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93 year old Irish man talking about the battle of the somme


Restonbabe

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Incredible.  Difficult for us to even imagine.  How sprightly can you get at 93?  We see it in the Queen and David Attenborough.  90 is the new 60.

 

We will never even begin to repay the debt to these heroes whether or not they survived or fell.

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Jambo-Jimbo

There was a series on PBS America just last week called 'The last voices of WWI' which was filmed in the 1990's, and interviewed many of the veterans, including Harry Patch.  Some of the stories were utterly horrendous of what these young men went through.

 

I was on a WWI battlefields tour back in 2018, visited Ypres, Arras & the Somme, our guide a chap by the name of Keith Quibell was brilliant and so full of knowledge.  He'd talked to many of the veterans and had taken them on tours of the battlefields, so wherever we went Keith had a story or two from someone who had actually been there at the time and it just brought the whole thing to life and a bit more personal. 

Had mentioned to Keith that I was a Hearts fan and when at the Somme he told the driver to take a detour and we visited Contalmaison, 15 minutes or so I got there which was great as it wasn’t on the tour, so that was really good of him, he also told the whole bus the story of McCrae’s battalion and the Hearts players etc etc.  Even showed me roughly the area where our boys would have fallen.

 

Of all the tragedies of the Somme of which there are many, one in particular sticks out in my mind, Beaumont-Hamel and the Newfoundland Regiment. They and the 1st Battalion of the Essex Regiment were to take the German trenches at Beaumont-Hamel. Of the 780 men of the Newfoundland regiment who went over the top on the 1st July 1916, only 68 answered roll call the next morning, the regiment had effectively been wiped out.

 

I have nothing but the deepest respect for all of these young men who fought in WWI.

 

If you ever get the chance I would highly recommend a WWI battlefields tour, it's an experience I will never forget.

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9 hours ago, Restonbabe said:

 

 

Jack Campbell - sharp as a tack at 93. Made it to 97. Never forgot his time in the trenches.

 

4 hours ago, BarneyBattles said:

You should look up Ernst Yunger for a view from the other side. 
 

He also wrote a fantastic book ‘Storm of Steel’. Absolutely crazy times. 

Just looked him up. Seems to have been a bit of a maverick, and wrote about the same horrors, as Jack Campbell recounts.

Equally dire for both sides

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Governor Tarkin
45 minutes ago, felix said:

 

Equally dire for both sides

 

This.

 

🕊

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Jambo-Jimbo
1 hour ago, felix said:

Equally dire for both sides

 

1 hour ago, Governor Tarkin said:

 

This.

 

🕊

 

What did surprise me was that the Germans largely ignore their own WWI cemeteries, we visted two, Langemark (Belgium) & Neuville-St. Vaast (France) and it was noticeable that there were maybe a handful of flowers or wreaths next to any of the graves, in fact there were more wreaths laid by the British Legion etc at the main memorials in the German cemeteries than there were from the Germans themselves, and as for visitors, we were told that it's mostly folks from Britain & the Commonwealth who visit, you will get some Germans but few and far between. 

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It must have been a terrible time, I recall during my own training being taught how to do an attack with bayonets fixed and being encouraged to shout and scream, and out on training exercise on Yorkshire moors, running about all day and spending the night doing guards in trenches. About four of us   in the trench, two on guard two of which I was one sleeping. Suddenly there were explosions, screams, and men leaping and threatening us,   it was the instructors doing a night attack on us to let us know what it would be like, it was terrifying, confusing, and just hard to understand. How these young men of that devastating war put up with it and recount their tale like that old fella is nothing less than amazing. My father was called up as an eighteen year old and spent time in the trenches in France as a runner, the deliverer of messages from trench to trench one of the highest danger  jobs in the line. He never spoke to me about any of it, even when I was a soldier, his brother filled me in on the runner part.

 

The only thing I saw that had any relation to his war service was he never missed when I knew him the 11 November thing at the Hearts memorial at Haymarket, and never wore his medals.

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1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

 

What did surprise me was that the Germans largely ignore their own WWI cemeteries, we visted two, Langemark (Belgium) & Neuville-St. Vaast (France) and it was noticeable that there were maybe a handful of flowers or wreaths next to any of the graves, in fact there were more wreaths laid by the British Legion etc at the main memorials in the German cemeteries than there were from the Germans themselves, and as for visitors, we were told that it's mostly folks from Britain & the Commonwealth who visit, you will get some Germans but few and far between. 

 

I think there's a different reflection on WW1 in Germany - or preference to forget.

Think it's viewed dimly because of the subsequent punishment of Germany, through Versailles  - and therefore a prelude to WWII.

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Jambo-Jimbo
24 minutes ago, felix said:

 

I think there's a different reflection on WW1 in Germany - or preference to forget.

Think it's viewed dimly because of the subsequent punishment of Germany, through Versailles  - and therefore a prelude to WWII.

 

You are right, there isn't the same feeling in Germany, which is sad, because when you strip away the politics, these young men were still somebody's husband, son, father, brother, nowadays somebody's Great Grandfather etc. and deserve to be remembered.

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18 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

You are right, there isn't the same feeling in Germany, which is sad, because when you strip away the politics, these young men were still somebody's husband, son, father, brother, nowadays somebody's Great Grandfather etc. and deserve to be remembered.

 

Your post reminds me of Joseph Lee's words.

 

Every bullet has its billet

Many bullets more than one:

God! Perhaps I killed a mother,

When I killed a mother's son.

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Jambo-Jimbo
44 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

Your post reminds me of Joseph Lee's words.

 

Every bullet has its billet

Many bullets more than one:

God! Perhaps I killed a mother,

When I killed a mother's son.

 

This reminds me of a story my oldest daughter got told during a high school trip to the WWI battlefields, all 3 of our children have been on this school trip to the WWI battlefields, different years obviously.

 

Anyway, they visited a French cemetery and the guide/teacher led the group to some crosses (the French have crosses) and stopped, asked the group to look at the names on these two crosses, both the same surname, then the ages, one was something like 35 and the other was 15, yes 15 the same age as you lot he said, father & son, now look when they were killed, the same day, who knows maybe at the same time, maybe side by side, we don't know.  The guide/teacher added something else and this is bit which brought the tears to more than a few of the group, he said can you just imagine that poor wife & mother receiving a telegram maybe two, perhaps on the same day, telling her that her husband & son had both been killed.

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I know in WW2 it was not unusual for a mother to be told two sons had been killed on the same day, many having volunteered together at the same time so they could serve in the same Regiment.

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4 hours ago, Sharpie said:

It must have been a terrible time, I recall during my own training being taught how to do an attack with bayonets fixed and being encouraged to shout and scream, and out on training exercise on Yorkshire moors, running about all day and spending the night doing guards in trenches. About four of us   in the trench, two on guard two of which I was one sleeping. Suddenly there were explosions, screams, and men leaping and threatening us,   it was the instructors doing a night attack on us to let us know what it would be like, it was terrifying, confusing, and just hard to understand. How these young men of that devastating war put up with it and recount their tale like that old fella is nothing less than amazing. My father was called up as an eighteen year old and spent time in the trenches in France as a runner, the deliverer of messages from trench to trench one of the highest danger  jobs in the line. He never spoke to me about any of it, even when I was a soldier, his brother filled me in on the runner part.

 

The only thing I saw that had any relation to his war service was he never missed when I knew him the 11 November thing at the Hearts memorial at Haymarket, and never wore his medals.

It must have been sheer hell for them, many of them not much older than boys.  I doubt if any training could really prepare anyone for what they were to face. Here's a snippet about my grandad who would have just turned 19 at the time.

 

papa.jpg

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My grandpa pretended he was older than he was so that he could go and fight in World War I as a teen. According to my family, when he came back he never ever spoke about anything he had seen or experienced. That in itself gives me a hint of the horrors he experienced.

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6 minutes ago, redjambo said:

My grandpa pretended he was older than he was so that he could go and fight in World War I as a teen. According to my family, when he came back he never ever spoke about anything he had seen or experienced. That in itself gives me a hint of the horrors he experienced.

Ironically I think war films are guilty of not making people realise the horror of it. Lots of people being shot and either bravely fighting on or dying from a conveniently efficient single shot. Or the bold heroes that have been shot sitting chatting as the wound is dressed. No shots of young boys screaming in agony with injuries so horrific you can only start to imagine them. 
I remember reading once how the men with the worst injuries were taken off the ships home out of the way of the public and the cameras. All the soldiers with an arm in a sling or on crutches came off the ships waving bravely to photographers. 

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Jambo-Jimbo
26 minutes ago, redjambo said:

My grandpa pretended he was older than he was so that he could go and fight in World War I as a teen. According to my family, when he came back he never ever spoke about anything he had seen or experienced. That in itself gives me a hint of the horrors he experienced.

 

An all too common occurrence by all accounts.

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1 hour ago, redjambo said:

My grandpa pretended he was older than he was so that he could go and fight in World War I as a teen. According to my family, when he came back he never ever spoke about anything he had seen or experienced. That in itself gives me a hint of the horrors he experienced.

 

My great-grandfather apparently was a very chatty fella, but never spoke of his experiences in World War I.  My grandfather spoke a bit about some of what happened to him in WWII, but he was by all accounts selective in what he described.

 

Both men were 25 when they enlisted, as it happens.

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Governor Tarkin
4 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

Your post reminds me of Joseph Lee's words.

 

Every bullet has its billet

Many bullets more than one:

God! Perhaps I killed a mother,

When I killed a mother's son.

 

😪

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Savage Vince

I remember my sister was doing a project on WW11 and asked my grandad about his time in the war. He told her she didn't want to know what he'd seen and done and that he'd never tell her or anyone else. 

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I recall as a kid when it seemed every postman had medal ribbons on his uniform from WW1, quite a few of the policemen also. It almost seems unfair that the best job they could get was running up and down stairs to pop letters in front door letter boxes, although a good government job like the GPO and Police were I am sure quite valued and adequately paid and pensioned. 

 

Veterans of these real hard war zones don't talk a lot about the times. When I was in the army a lot of the serving men were WW2 vets, and I honestly cannot remember a conversation regarding their actions, actually when I think of it I can't remember much conversation with them about anything,  they were not drawn to the young bunch. Now if you want I will be different we can sit down I will bring a bucket of sand and tell you all about my harrowing days in Egypt It will be the first time they have been told because I will have to create the content prior to our meeting.

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Maple Leaf

When I left school I went to work in the rubber mill in Fountainbridge and had the great privilege of working with several WWI veterans.  Without exception, they were tremendous men.

 

I used to get chatting with them and some of the tales they told were harrowing.  One of them, Willie Grossart, was shot through the head by a sniper at the battle of Loos, and the scars of the entry and exit wounds were still clearly visible forty years later.

 

It's an honour for me to write Willie Grossart's name.  He was a Hearts supporter in a west of Scotland regiment and he was subject to a lot of less than friendly banter.  He and I, the old soldier and the young laddie, formed a bond of friendship which I cherish to this day. 

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Doctor FinnBarr
5 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

When I left school I went to work in the rubber mill in Fountainbridge and had the great privilege of working with several WWI veterans.  Without exception, they were tremendous men.

 

I used to get chatting with them and some of the tales they told were harrowing.  One of them, Willie Grossart, was shot through the head by a sniper at the battle of Loos, and the scars of the entry and exit wounds were still clearly visible forty years later.

 

It's an honour for me to write Willie Grossart's name.  He was a Hearts supporter in a west of Scotland regiment and he was subject to a lot of less than friendly banter.  He and I, the old soldier and the young laddie, formed a bond of friendship which I cherish to this day. 

 

Grossart is a kinda odd name in the Lothians I think, grew up beside 2 of them, wonder if there was any connection?

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5 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

When I left school I went to work in the rubber mill in Fountainbridge and had the great privilege of working with several WWI veterans.  Without exception, they were tremendous men.

 

I used to get chatting with them and some of the tales they told were harrowing.  One of them, Willie Grossart, was shot through the head by a sniper at the battle of Loos, and the scars of the entry and exit wounds were still clearly visible forty years later.

 

It's an honour for me to write Willie Grossart's name.  He was a Hearts supporter in a west of Scotland regiment and he was subject to a lot of less than friendly banter.  He and I, the old soldier and the young laddie, formed a bond of friendship which I cherish to this day. 

 

Great post.

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Maple Leaf
3 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Grossart is a kinda odd name in the Lothians I think, grew up beside 2 of them, wonder if there was any connection?

He was originally from Carnwath.  I've often wondered if he had any descendants.  His grandchildren, if any, would be around my age, I would think.

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3 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Grossart is a kinda odd name in the Lothians I think, grew up beside 2 of them, wonder if there was any connection?

 

Our doctor in 1966 before we left Edinburgh was Dr Grossart.

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Jambos_1874

I came across this video a while back. It's a German WW1 soldier describing his experiences and it is one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Such a terrible conflict for both sides.

 

 

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6 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Grossart is a kinda odd name in the Lothians I think, grew up beside 2 of them, wonder if there was any connection?

There was a Billy Grossart in my class in my final year at school.

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John Findlay

My Grandfather on my dad's side was at Passchendaele aged 17 in 1917 as an Argyll and Sutherland highlander. He died aged 62, in 1962, the year before I was born.

I never met him.

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