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| It needs a bit of TLC after a century on display |
As far as I know my grandparent's generation came away from the Great War having suffered less personal loss than many of their contemporaries. In that generation I only know of one combat death; the man who would have been my Great Uncle had he lived, or perhaps is still my Great Uncle despite my never getting to meet him.
That man was Rifleman Tom Hartley service number 26979 of the 1/6th King's (Liverpool) Regiment killed on 30th November 1917 aged just 20. He has no known grave but is commemorated on panel 4 of the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval. I have seen only one photograph of him, and he looked shockingly young almost a child in a military uniform. I do have the bronze plaque issued to his parents after the war which hung on my grandmother's wall until her death when it passed to my mother and then to me. Not much to remember a life he never got to live.
You have not forgotten him. While you do, he lives on.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great relic to have retained in the family. I was lucky enough to get hold of my maternal grandfathers WWI service medals, plus his officers' field service handbook, although unfortunately a few studio photos of him in uniform got lost after my mum died and my dad moved house....it always annoys me when I think of it, even though it happened thirty years ago!
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