General Chat

How many of us will be remembering this week our relatives who signed up for war 100 years ago that may not have come home, that we have in our trees.

I for one was lucky my g grandfather was in his 40s in 1914 but was in the reserves and went to for two years but came home injured but there lots of other relatives who never made it. One whose body was never found.

To all those brave men who gave their life for King and Country RIP <3 <3

RIP indeed

one of my Dad's brothers was killed in WW1 - my Dad was ony about a year old at the time so never knew him

My paternal Grandad fought in WW1.....he was in the Royal Horse Artillery, enlisting in 1914 leaving his wife and baby son behind. In civilian life he was a carter on the same farm I was born in 40 years later.

He was injured once , returned home to recover and baby number 2 was conceived....he died at 2 months old , then back he went Grandad who eventually
came home safely and he and Granny went on to have 14 more children.

I was always immensely proud of him

:-D

The relative whose body was never found I have discovered his name on the Menin Gate.I was over there 16years ago but was not doing my tree then.

My maternal grandfather also served for the whole of the war. He was badly shell shocked and spent a lot of time in hospital after the war away from his wife and family.
My mother was 3 when he went away and 7 when he came home. She remembered being called into the headmaster's office to be told "you can go home as your father is coming home"
She said she didn't know who her father was and was terrified of the stranger that she met because he had a gun.
The poor man had to rebuild his relationship all over again with his family.
He was such a lovely kind man but the war affected him badly for the rest of his life.
My father also served from 1914 until 1916 when he was shot and lost one of his eyes.
He too suffered badly afterwards and his eldest brother was killed in 1916.

I sometimes think people have forgotten all the survivors whose lives were changed forever.

All casualties of war. Will we ever learn?

We will remember them <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I have indeed remembered our local fallen by spending the whole day from stupid o'clock this morning involved with the organisation of an event to commemorate them. A write up that will be in tomorrow's local paper:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/plaques-unveiled-world-war-one-7555447

I'm a volunteer on a local WW1 commemoration project http://www.tynemouthworldwarone.org/

Even if you don't have family from the area the interactive database which has a biography of over 1700 casualties and a brilliant animated map showing the effect of the loss of life on the streets in the area is worth a look at.

My grandfather never spoke about his father except to say that he was a Canadian policeman that turned out to be a lie he was in Canada but in the British Army and he never talked about his fathers war years, there was other lies but this is not the place

My great Uncle was killed on November 7th 1914. He was aged thirty and served in the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry.

He was killed in the first battle of Ypres

I went to the Menin Gate in Ypres and searched and searched for my Dad's brother without success, then while doing my family tree I discovered he is on the Thiepval Memorial

I have too many in my tree that died in WW1, however my grandmother's two brothers that served both returned one with a piece of shrapnel in his knee, and her sister's husband also returned but he suffered nightmares all through his married life, they were married April 1918 after his return.

My Gr gr grandmother lived till 1920 and she lost 4 grandsons in the war and her granddaughter to the Black November Flu.

I have only discovered two relatives who served in WW1

Both came back

My maternal grandfather was in his 30s, and had 3 children by the time he was mobilised in 1916. After basic training, he was assigned to the then very new machine Gun Corp, and served mainly in "Mesopotamia" ................. which really was modern-day Iraq


He never talked about the war ............... I have learned everything I know from the records on Ancestry.

It really was quite strange to read of him sailing from Bombay (wish I could find out how and why he went there!) and landing in Basra, then being in hospital in Baghdad (once when wounded and once with influenza).

All those geographical names that we became used to during the Iraq wars.



My mother was 12 when he went away, the eldest child, and had to leave school in order to go to work to help provide for her mother and the other 2 children.

He did give my mother one "remembrance" of the war, which I now have .................. a massive sword he had found "on the battlefield". I've had it examined, and it is of Turkish design.

Both he and then my Dad used it to chop wood ............... which eventually resulted in the blade breaking :-)

It is now shorter than it was, with the remaining part of the blade re-attached to the handle.



My brother's (EDIT:--- OOPS ---- should read my FATHER'S) eldest brother also served in WW1 ...... he was only 19 when war began, but he joined up almost immediately, and served most of his time in France

He was shot and gassed ........... and ailed for the rest of his life, being capable of doing only the most menial of jobs..

Despite that, he was eligible to be called up again in 1939, when WW2 began.

Fortunately, my Dad was working in Restricted Occupation by then, and he heard that there was a cleaner's job vacant in the factory ............... Uncle Harry was lucky enough to get that job.

In 1914 NZ's population for the whole of the country was around about 1 million.. shouldn't joke but there was probably about 3 million sheep here at the time as well.

More than 100,000 New Zealanders went to war, it ultimately claimed the lived of 18,500 and another 40,000 were wounded.

My maternal grandfather fought and was wounded in the first world war. My mothers younger brother was a volunteer fire watcher was killed aged sixteen.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

Also remembering those young men who was shot,,, being classed as cowards or those shot for desertion and seem to be forgot amongst the heros. :-(

To true Kay.

Let's not forget the Belgium civilians, killed or displaced because their country was turned into a battlefield.

The Germans might still be seen as the 'baddies' but every man killed was someones Father, Brother, Son or Husband.

I for one is going to turn my lights off at 11pm tonight and am lighting a candle in my window, anyone else going to do this?

Not sure - I did think about it earlier, but will probably forget! If they are supposed to go in the window, there's the faff off having to take the nets down (fire hazard)

Today, is the day Great Britain declared it was in a state of war with Germany. so today I pay my respects to all those who died in that war, the war that they said would end all wars. it did not, so today I will include those who have died in all wars since the end of that war, I will also be thinking about those who are still dying in conflicts all over the world and pray that all who are involved in these conflicts, will one day be able, to live in peace and harmony with their fellow beings.

May all those who died in war R.I.P. <3

According to the Lights Out website it doesn't have to be a candle - the single light can be from your television, mobile or laptop...