Soldier Record

My grandfather signed up for the army straight away in 1914 aged 20. He trained in Essex at Maldon and Billerricay. He served in the 2nd/8th battalion of the Worcestershire regiment. Having initially served on the frontline, he was drafted up to Brigade Headquarters because of his ability to work a telephone, having worked as an office boy at Kay's mail order company in Worcester before the war. This probably saved his life!

He told me also of how he gained extra food rations by writing letters home to the wife of the Brigade cook, as the chef himself was unable to read or write! My grandfather lived until he was 90 and I grew up with him until the age of 13, and remember him telling me many stories of his experiences in WW1 when I was a young girl in the 1970s and 80s.