General Chat

Tomorrow is the 90th Anniversay of the terrible Battle. Least we forget. R.I.P. R.B.

Yes...poor lads....

Thinking of my grandad, who managed to survive the somme.xxx ( 22nd (Cheshire) regiment ) Sgt Reg Wright.

My great grandad was killed at the Somme on August 16th 1916 my grandad his son was fighting alongside him and survived

Thinking of you Poppy(Grandadad) who was taken a Prisoner during this Battle. R.B. 'IN FLANDERS FIELD THE POPPIES BLOW'

In our thoughts!! Helenxx

My Great Granfather Cpl. Oliver Rimmer of The Accrington Pals was killed in action 1st July 1916. God bless x

Thinking of my second cousin once removed - REGINALD STAPLEHURST Who fought with the Royal Sussex Regiment 2nd Btn & was killed at the Somme on 17/08/1916. Before he went to war he worked as a Gardener at Langney Cemetery in Eastbourne. I often think of the Staplehurst family when I visit family graves there.

Aw Rachel your cousin was killed day after my great grandad, there were 650,000 allied troops killed there and 450,000 German troops. Dx

Yes David such a terrible waste of lives. Let them never be forgotten.

My Great Uncle died there - aged 19 - left two babies!

Cpt. Charles Swan Powell. 14.07.1916. RIP

My grandad, John Alexander Whitley, who went over the top with the Royal Irish Rifles on the morning of July 1st, was badly wounded but eventually managed to struggle back to his own lines, where he was nearly shot by some English soldiers who thought he was a German sniper..........dread to think what he thought about the English, he eventually made it home..he called his house Martinsart, after the village where he went over. Barbara..xx

'An emotional day' at the Somme Neil McGurk is retracing the footsteps of his grandfather and two great-uncles on a march marking the 90-year anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. 28 JUNE: AUCHONVILLERS TO THIEPVAL We set off from our camp yesterday and marched the six miles towards Thiepval. We laid a wreath at the Ulster Tower, which commemorates the Ulster Division. That was where I spoke to a group of British schoolchildren. They were presented with this smelly bloke in a uniform and told, 'Go on, ask him some questions'! Neil contemplates the demise of his great-uncle at the Somme They asked why was out there, did I think I'd be as good a soldier as my uncle - without swearing I said I imagined I wouldn't be anywhere near as good a soldier as he was! From there we marched to the Thiepval monument. I laid a wreath along with a French re-enactor who has come along as a lieutenant. Then, while everyone else moved off to get into the shade, I was given the chance to go and find my great uncle's name on the monument. I went to the books that are kept there - people are listed by surname - so I went to the correct place [on the monument]. The men are listed by unit and rank. The first W Clark wasn't actually him - he was a private in the Durham Light Infantry. Then I spotted where the corporals were listed and I saw the 'W Clark' which was my great-uncle. Somme Diary: Day one Neil prepares for the march I was glad I'd seen it. I know he will never be forgotten because his name is there, but he's gone from being a name on a piece of paper to someone real. I can put a face to him, I even know how tall he is. Obviously I'll never know him but it's the realisation of how lucky my existence is, because my grandfather fought as well and he survived while William didn't. My grandfather went on to have family, another generation, and I knew him for a few years whereas William didn't have any of that - and how many of the [72,000] men listed on the monument didn't have that chance either? All those names are actually people, every single one of them is somebody's son. So it was quite an emotional day for me, it felt very strange. This march has given me a very tiny, tiny glimpse into the realities of the whole 1914-1918 experience, what British soldiers went through. I'm not talking about the battlefield but about how tired we are - when we're marching at the earliest opportunity everyone sits down or lies down, takes off their webbing and kit. As the days go on we're starting to look like those photos from WWI of resting soldiers, laid out on the ground or sitting. We seem to have picked up that habit ourselves so quickly. Of an evening there's no wild revelry because everyone knows we've go to be up at 0600, we've got to pack up a camp in three hours before we march off at 0900. So I hope that anyone who's seen some of us daft enough to do something like this will take an interest, do what I've done and see what they can find out [about their family history] and realise this is part of British history. Because nearly everybody has a connection with the Great War. The next generation has never known anyone who went through it. I think I'm one of the last few who really got to know anyone who went through it.

Two German participants in events commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme say why they believe it is so important that they take part. Mario Zutt in WWI uniform and his great-grandfather, Jacob Mario Zutt, a 35-year-old accountant from Biskirchen, 100km north of Frankfurt, is going to France for the Somme commemoration as one of 10 German 're-enactors' on a march organised by the National Army Museum in London. He will walk alongside about 100 British men, half of whom had ancestors who would have faced his own great-grandfather, Jacob Zutt and his great-great-uncle Herman Emrich across the front line. Germans and British together will be dressed in their own reproduction uniform, set up Living History campsites along the way and share rations. The irony is not lost on Mario but he points out he has taken part in war re-enactments with former 'enemies' before - 'We have a very good friendship, we re-enactors are like family,' he says. This week's event is different though - it's not just a get-together of people who share a hobby, who want to escape the daily grind by reliving the past. 'The war is not only [a part of] British and French heritage - it is ours, too.' Mario and his fellow Germans have also been invited to the main ceremony at Thiepval on Saturday 1 July. 'I am very proud to join the ceremony standing in line with British, French and other nations and my family feels the same,' he says. He believes that a few years ago a joint ceremony such as this was unthinkable. There has been little interest in remembering the Great War in Germany - 20th century history at school is dominated by the Holocaust. 'Recently my father-in-law told me nobody wanted to see uniforms after World War Two. Uniforms meant war, so the veterans [of both wars] couldn't speak about it,' he says. Now, he says, more and more German people are researching their family history and finding out about both world wars outside of the official education system. Walter Rapp went to France earlier this month for the unveiling of the only Anglo-German memorial on French soil. It honours three men - one unidentified British soldier and two Germans - Albert Thielicke and Jakob Hoenes, Walter's maternal grandfather. All three men were uncovered near the village of Serre by an archaeological team called No Man's Land in 2003 and their findings displayed at the National Army Museum last year. Walter was invited to see the exhibition, 'Finding the Fallen', last November and while in London attended a Remembrance Day ceremony that left a lasting impression. 'I got to know how the English were so proud of their heroes in the war. I saw the medals on their suits. That impressed me. 'Here in Germany there is no remembrance to the first World War - they want to forget this time. I think it was because they start a war twice. We learned that in school - so it is a path of shame - so they don't [commemorate] it. That's my interpretation.' The Anglo-German monument was unveiled on 16 June Now with the help of the No Man's Land team who commissioned the Anglo-German memorial, the fallen on both sides of the front line can be remembered. Walter's speech at the ceremony summed up the sentiments of those who were there. 'Today we are standing here together as friends to honour with this commemorative plaque those killed in action during the First World War, who had no choice but to fight against each other on different sides. 'Never, never again should Europe experience the horrors of war.'

My husband's gran lost her two brothers on 27th and 30th July at the Somme, and her husband on 26th Sept 1917 at Passchendale. James, your 1918 death may well be commemorated in TyneCott Cemetery..I've got details about Passchendale as well but around the 20th-26th Sept. when the Gordons were involved.. We went there February 2005....lots of snow...Saw the place in Popinjay (I think) where the so-called objectors were shot..

Remembering Members of my Family who died during Wars Surname First name(s) Rank Service Death Date Age Where Relation Neal George Private 1st Leicestershire Regiment 5 May 1900 22 Boer War 4C 3R Webb Sidney 7 Feb 1915 24 Ypres, Belgium 5C 4R Downer Sydney Charles H Rifleman 1st/8th Bn. Hampshire Regiment 23 Aug 1915 22 Gallipoli 4C 2R Tupper Charles Edward Private 6th Bn. East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) 13 Oct 1915 20 Battle of Loos 4C 2R Alchin George Henry Private Royal Marine Light Infantry 31 May 1916 24 H.M.S.Invincible, Battle of Jutland. 5C 5R Nappin William Thomas Private 1st Bn. Royal Fusiliers 14 Aug 1916 22 The Somme 2C 2R Rowland Jeffrey Ellis Private 15th Bn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers 6 Sep 1916 22 Flanders In-Law Hartfield Frederick George Lance Serjeant 2nd Bn. Grenadier Guards 25 Sep 1916 22 The Somme In-Law Luton Alfred Edison Private 1st/4th Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 7 Oct 1916 21 The Somme In-Law Jury John Thomas Private 1st Bn. Queens Own Regiment (Royal West Kent) 12 Feb 1917 23 St Omer, France 6C 4R Laing Stuart Alchin Gunner 8th Bde. Australian Field Artillery 20 Oct 1917 21 Passchendale 6C 3R Manwaring Guy Philip Lance Corporal 2nd/4th Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 26 Oct 1917 24 Passchendale 6C 3R Downer Ernest Charles Rifleman B Coy. 1st/8th Bn. Hampshire Regiment 2 Nov 1917 30 Gaza, Israel 3C 3R Hartfield Charles Sydney Rifleman 12th Bn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps 20 Nov 1917 19 Cambrai, France 7C 2R Pollard Albert Edward Private 13th Bn. Royal Fusiliers 26 Nov 1917 19 Belgium In-Law Allchin Sidney Milton 2nd Lieutenant 3rd Bn. Queens Own Regiment (Royal West Kent) 13 Dec 1917 19 Belgium 6C 3R Weatherall William Henry Private 12th/13th Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers 12 Apr 1918 34 The Somme Grand Uncle Alchin Henry George Private 2nd/20th Bn. London Regiment 30 Apr 1918 33 Palestine 6C 3R Alchin Stephen Lewis Private 7th Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment 28 May 1918 20 The Somme 4C 2R Tupper Alfred John M Private 10th Bn. Essex Regiment 8 Aug 1918 26 The Somme 4C 2R Sell Arthur Herbert Private 2nd Bn. Royal Fusiliers 5 Sep 1918 18 St Omer, France 4C 2R Lawrence John George S Private 9th Bn. Norfolk Regiment 20 Sep 1918 24 The Somme In-Law Bateman Harold Private 1st/13th Kensington Bn. London Regiment 1 Sep 1918 18 Somme to Loos 4C 2R Neal William Arthur ERA 3rd Class Royal Navy. H.M.S.Exmouth 21 Jan 1940 26 English Channel 5C 2R Luton Charles William B Fireman Trinity House 12 Nov 1940 34 London In-Law Luton Harry William J Fireman Trinity House 12 Nov 1940 29 London In-Law Chick William John S LAC 84 Sqdn RAF 14 Nov 1940 23 El Alamein, 84 Sqn, R.A.F. In-Law Allchin David John Private 2/23rd Infantry Bn. Australian Army 17 May 1941 29 Tobruk, Libya 8C 1R Neal William Royal Navy 1941 57 Portsmouth, R.N. 4C 3R Neal Percy Merchant Navy. S.S.Managui 15 Mar 1942 50 Atlantic Ocean 4C 3R Luton John Campbell Sergeant Royal Australian Air Force 5 Sep 1942 20 Staveren, Netherlands In-Law Fitzell George Jackson Gunner A.I.F. 2/1Lt A.A.Reg. Australian Army 15 Sep 1942 19 Papua New Guinea 7C 2R Pattenden Stanley Clifford Lance Serjeant 1st Bn. Rifle Brigade 25 Oct 1942 23 El Alamein 3C 2R Double Cyril William S AC 2nd Class 9 Sqdn RAFVR 20 Nov 1942 36 Nottingham In-Law Luton Leonard Ronald S Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) 7 Sqdn RAFVR 12 Mar 1943 33 Minaucourt, France In-Law Catt Leslie John Teddy Staff Serjeant 1st Glider Pilot Regiment A.A.C. 24 Mar 1945 22 The Rhine, Germany 13C 2R Mackett George William Gunner 78 Bty. 35 Lt. A.A. Regiment 31 Jul 1945 37 Borneo, Malaysia In-Law They will not be forgotten by our Family.

The 1st of July approaches ............ a time for remembrance, and for reconciliation.

For our tomorrows they gave their today Ann

Private Charles A Standish, died 16th September, 1916, whilst on a maneovre. They retreated when shot at and my great-grandfather was killed. His officers retrieved his body at great risk to themselves. He was mentioned, by name, in the war diaries. R.I.P. at long last we have been able to honour you. Susan