Soldier Record

My Grandfather was fortunate as he survived World War I and lived to tell the tale. He was a typical teenager of his time, didn't get on with his parents who emigrated to Canada, and he told a lie about his age when he joined the Army. He was born in 1885 but his papers say 1881. He embrked for France on the 3rd May 1915 when he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. His rank at that time indicated that he had already been in a theatre of war although no records can be traced. He had told his daughter (my Mother) that he ran away to war a few years earlier. He fought on the Somme at the Battle of Arras and at the end of October 1916 the Battalion were in the trenches at Maricourt, he received the Military Medal in October 1916. He finally left the Army in January 1919, married my grandmother in 1920 and took up the professionof Painter and Decorator. He had two daughters and a son and lived a long and happy life. When World War II broke out, the family moved from Yorkshire to Lincoln where Grandpa took up a position with the Air Training Core at Lindum Home (latterly a convent and school) and together they were house-parents to the ATC cadets.