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Thank you, Sylvia, Pat and Julie.
How many more hundreds of thousands of family stories from that conflict 100 years ago have we no knowledge?
I wondered if more might have been noted here.
Thank you all once again.
Lest we forget those brave souls ... who gave their all that we might have a happy life!
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A marvellous tribute and a fascinating story of your family's involvement in WW1. Two of my grandfather's brothers, Harry and Robert Beardsworth, also died in WW1: Harry on the 1st July 1916 in the Battle of the Somme and Robert on the 31st July 1917 at Ypres. Thankfully the two remaining brothers, John and my grandfather Thomas, survived.
Thanks for including me in this posting.
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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
We will remember them
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Thank you to all of them.
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what a great letter, Barry
My grandfather fought in WW1 even though he had a wife and 3 children, and ended in the Machine Gun Corps fighting in "Mesopotamia", the current day Iraq, from 1917 to 1919.
Fortunately, he survived, but never talked about it.
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... to my late Uncle Sam.
Dear Uncle Sam.
When I write a letter I always ask about the health of the recipient and their family.
Sadly, however, and most regrettably, I cannot do so with you.
100 years ago today, 15th September 1916, you gave the ultimate sacrifice for your country at The Battle of The Somme!
You and your fellow soldiers of the Middlesex Regiment, who fought so very hard with honour and dignity, were regrettably overwhelmed by the enemy.
You were killed by a sniper.
Named after both grandfathers, you are the uncle I never met.
I am the nephew you never put on your knee ... or kicked a ball around with me.
I am the son of your younger brother, George.
Uncle Sam, I would like you to know that I have not forgotten the sacrifice you and so very many others - from all countries - made in all wars ... and that today, particularly, is thus special for me upon the one hundredth anniversary of your death.
George thankfully came home from France, but he, like so many who fought in 'The Great War', never spoke about it and what hell they endured!
Your cousin, Will, also died days after you, hundreds of miles away in Iraq, where he is buried. It was a troubled place 100 years ago ... and thus it remains today!
Harry Pellow also died at The Battle of Ypres in 1917.
I neither heard you play your violin nor heard your voice. You were a mystery through and through!
However, many years ago I found several very small unmarked black and white photos. I copied these and sent them to the one family survivor, your niece - my cousin - Vera, now deceased. Thankfully, she identified you ... otherwise I would never have known the lad in uniform was you.
I am the only survivor of our family.
I would truly like to very proudly say that your sacrifice genuinely has made a great deal of difference in the world.
I bitterly regret to say nothing could be further from the truth!
Indeed, the politicians have - as ever and always - so ruined the world with their 'policies'.
There is no such thing nowadays as common sense ... this has given way to 'Political Correctness', for all the 'good' it has done!
Today, we live in a greater state of terror and unease than when you and your regiment shipped to France to put an end to the agitator!
The greatest irony is the old enemy of yesteryear unbelievably arose like the Phoenix from the ashes to create more misery and death for several years.
That same old (once again defeated!) enemy - now our friend and ally! - effectively controls Europe!!
Oh, Dear Uncle Sam, so much has happened in the last century. A very great deal of it most certainly not for the better, either!
I would like you to know I shall forever remember your call to duty you answered immediately ... and that you have not been - and never will be - forgotten for the supreme sacrifice you made that others might be safe.
Thank You. God Bless.
Your loving nephew,
Barry.
Lest We Forget!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/wall/record/11081 Sam B Barnes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/wall/record/16295 Geo W Barnes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/wall/record/17052 Alfred H Pellow
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