Pack Up Your Troubles…

My grandfather fought in World War One and came home.

I did not fully appreciate what this meant until I went to Belgium and France and saw the thousands upon thousands of graves.

We were not just visiting towns, villages, monuments, cemeteries and beautiful countryside. We were viewing history through the unique perspective of our family.

Nearly one hundred years on we were standing in his footsteps.

A Solider Goes to War

My grandfather was 19 years old when he enlisted and did not see action until the August of 1915. By this time it was clear the war was not going to be “over by Christmas”.

A carpenter by trade he served as a wheeler in the Royal Field Artillery 20^th Light Division Ammunition Column (responsible for the supply of ammunition to gun batteries).

His records were lucky enough to be amongst the Burnt Documents surviving the fire and flooding during World War Two.

Through what my grandfather had spoken about over the years and the ever increasing access to historical information, we were able to piece together where he was during his time in Belgium and France.

No Time Like the Present

My father has for a number of years now been researching our family history. Along the way the subject of my grandfather’s experiences during the war were touched on and it was during a conversation about this, and a comment by my father about wanting to see first hand the areas in Belgium and France, that the idea for this trip was born.

A quick check of diaries, the necessary spousal approval granted and a date was set. Not long after, a rough itinerary created (to be much expanded in the following weeks), flights and hotels booked.

We were good to go.

We had of course Major & Mrs Holt’s battle maps of the Ypres Salient and the Somme. Western Europe maps were loaded on the satnav (yes, I would be driving!) and some POIs for the satnav covering most of the locations we intended to visit downloaded.

My father provided plenty of background information to get me up to speed.

 

…Smile Smile Smile

We had packed our bags and our troubles. We were on our way to Belgium.


To be continued…