Discharge card.
- Thread starter kenbro
- Start date
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Nice bit of family history KB. I wonder when it was introduced - presumably later in the war when the slaughter was more apparent?
Well just got my dads discharge papers through on ancestry now a no his service no a can go to the DLI museum & hopefully find out more
He told me he was a guard on the pow camps
It said he was transferred to camp 17
Which was in Sheffield the biggest in the country
He died when a was 18 had loads to ask but never got the chance
He told me he was a guard on the pow camps
It said he was transferred to camp 17
Which was in Sheffield the biggest in the country
He died when a was 18 had loads to ask but never got the chance
kenbro
Well-Known Member
Granddad wrote a letter home to his parents and in it he said how they where in the trenches when the shout went up to go ver the top. He said they went over the top and charged at the enemy, all the time wailing like banshees.
A bullet went up through his right arm and on through his mouth.
He remembered falling down then getting to his feet again and turning round to walk back to his own lines. He said later how he couldn’t understand why he didn’t get shot in the back while walking back.
Poured Iodine on his wounds, bandaged him up and that was his war finished.
I loaned the letter to our local newspaper many years ago when they were writing articles about WW1.
It never appeared in print and I never got it back presumed LIA.
KB.
A bullet went up through his right arm and on through his mouth.
He remembered falling down then getting to his feet again and turning round to walk back to his own lines. He said later how he couldn’t understand why he didn’t get shot in the back while walking back.
Poured Iodine on his wounds, bandaged him up and that was his war finished.
I loaned the letter to our local newspaper many years ago when they were writing articles about WW1.
It never appeared in print and I never got it back presumed LIA.
KB.
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
That's awful Ken. Losing the letter.
I'm glad your grandfather came home.
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Dreadful thing - and such an important family item too.
Another example - good pal’s Grandfather was one of the survivors of HMS Barham…
We will have seen the utterly dreadful footage and the carnage that resulted.
“The Board of Enquiry into the sinking ascribed the final explosion to a fire in the 4-inch magazines outboard of the main 15-inch magazines, which would have then spread to and detonated the contents of the main magazines. Due to the speed at which she sank, 862 officers and ratings were killed, including two who died of their wounds after being rescued. The destroyer Hotspur rescued 337 survivors, including Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell and the pair who later died of their wounds, while the Australian destroyer Nizam reportedly rescued 150.”.
After he died my pal found (in the glove compartment of his old car) unheard of b&w pictures of her in action taking fire from the german battle group in an earlier engagement - with his grandfather’s pencilled notation on the reverse of each. Priceless family history and unique in the history of that doomed ship. The IWM heard of him as a survivor and asked my pal to send the pictures which he did and willingly. That was the end of them - never seen again!
Wind forward some years….By the most astounding of coincidences I was sitting on a Perthshire hillside chatting to a new stalker with whom I was spending the day and he mentioned the Barham, then to my utter astonishment told me that his grandfather had been on it when she was torpedoed and blew up! Right up until very close to his death the old boy travelled to the annual survivors dinner.
You can only imagine the conversation that ensued with all thoughts of stalking forgotten….
Another example - good pal’s Grandfather was one of the survivors of HMS Barham…
We will have seen the utterly dreadful footage and the carnage that resulted.
“The Board of Enquiry into the sinking ascribed the final explosion to a fire in the 4-inch magazines outboard of the main 15-inch magazines, which would have then spread to and detonated the contents of the main magazines. Due to the speed at which she sank, 862 officers and ratings were killed, including two who died of their wounds after being rescued. The destroyer Hotspur rescued 337 survivors, including Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell and the pair who later died of their wounds, while the Australian destroyer Nizam reportedly rescued 150.”.
After he died my pal found (in the glove compartment of his old car) unheard of b&w pictures of her in action taking fire from the german battle group in an earlier engagement - with his grandfather’s pencilled notation on the reverse of each. Priceless family history and unique in the history of that doomed ship. The IWM heard of him as a survivor and asked my pal to send the pictures which he did and willingly. That was the end of them - never seen again!
Wind forward some years….By the most astounding of coincidences I was sitting on a Perthshire hillside chatting to a new stalker with whom I was spending the day and he mentioned the Barham, then to my utter astonishment told me that his grandfather had been on it when she was torpedoed and blew up! Right up until very close to his death the old boy travelled to the annual survivors dinner.
You can only imagine the conversation that ensued with all thoughts of stalking forgotten….
My, now late, mother who died in 2014 got this in respect of Bert, her then husband, pictured below.
There was also a letter from his Regiment's Colonel with the words "So far I regret I have no news of the recovery of your husband's body, but I regard an ocean made famous by the heroic struggles of this war and hallowed by the sacrifices it has accepted, as a truly fitting resting place for those that have made that supreme sacrifice."
She said nobody came from the Army, just the below, by letter, very matter of fact and basically telling you to go get on with the rest of your life.
And finally after it was all, all over, a small box with his medals and their award notice.
There was also a letter from his Regiment's Colonel with the words "So far I regret I have no news of the recovery of your husband's body, but I regard an ocean made famous by the heroic struggles of this war and hallowed by the sacrifices it has accepted, as a truly fitting resting place for those that have made that supreme sacrifice."
She said nobody came from the Army, just the below, by letter, very matter of fact and basically telling you to go get on with the rest of your life.
And finally after it was all, all over, a small box with his medals and their award notice.
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My mothers father was Royal Navy in both wars. I was 14 when he died, so the significance of him being sunk three times in the battle of Jutland never really registered. I believe he went to sea as a 16 year old midshipman.The fact that he came ashore wearing only the chaplain's jersey was considered humorous.
He followed this with having a gun boat on the Danube burn to the waterline, and then was sunk twice getting out of Greece in WW2.
The family legend was that he arrived in Alexandria in a paddle steamer.
In 1950 he and my grandmother survived a notorious Fastnet race.
There is no mention of him being born with a caul! But considering the losses associated with sinking ships he was extremely fortunate, and must have belonged to a very small minority. The extraordinary thing is that his father was drowned in a river crossing during the Boer War.
I managed to look up my grandfathers service record, the details are sparse.
When he died my grandmother promised that we could read his diaries and note books. She had a quick look first, and when she discovered that he had kept a mistress ( as a bachelor) during his time on the Danube, the whole lot was packed off to the Imperial War Museum!
He followed this with having a gun boat on the Danube burn to the waterline, and then was sunk twice getting out of Greece in WW2.
The family legend was that he arrived in Alexandria in a paddle steamer.
In 1950 he and my grandmother survived a notorious Fastnet race.
There is no mention of him being born with a caul! But considering the losses associated with sinking ships he was extremely fortunate, and must have belonged to a very small minority. The extraordinary thing is that his father was drowned in a river crossing during the Boer War.
I managed to look up my grandfathers service record, the details are sparse.
When he died my grandmother promised that we could read his diaries and note books. She had a quick look first, and when she discovered that he had kept a mistress ( as a bachelor) during his time on the Danube, the whole lot was packed off to the Imperial War Museum!
