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Just been reading the pension records
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Sandra S | Report | 17 Aug 2007 19:55 |
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I have just been looking at the pension records and I feel so upset, stupid I know. But there is one lad, same area as my ancestor but wrong age, and I can't believe what I am reading - age 15 years 1 month.... Weight 100 lbs, thats only 7 stone.... height 5 foot and a quarter....chest measurement 30 inches!! He was a baby for gods sake! This was in 1910. Give him his due, he lasted 9 years in the Army and came through WW1. |
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Joy | Report | 17 Aug 2007 20:54 |
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And some signed up younger than that. There is a fascinating book about underage WW1 soldiers. I'll put the title if I can find it in the bookcase. |
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Joy | Report | 17 Aug 2007 21:11 |
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Found it - it is called Boy Soldiers of the Great War, their own stories for the first time by Richard van Emden. There was an abridged version free with Family History monthly magazine a while ago. |
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Sandra S | Report | 17 Aug 2007 21:44 |
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Thanks for that Marion. I have just Googled it and a Channel 4 history page came up all about it. So sad... they even allowed 13 year olds in, looking back they were just cannon fodder. I bet the kit they had to wear, especially in the wet and mud, was twice as heavy as they were. It's just that when you have children of your own, you realise how vunerable and young they were. Sandra |
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