Soldier Record

Nicolas Marino Enlisted in the 2nd Battallion Scots Guards on 4th December 1914.

A brief istory of my Grandfather Nicholas Marino.

Nicolas was called up for active service on the Western Front during the Great War between the years 1914-1918.

The Enlistment papers register my Grandfathers name as Nicholas Marino, but on looking at his signature on that same sheet of paper, he spells his name Nicolas without the letter h. Presumably he knew how to spell his own Christian name and that it was the Army Enrolment Officer who got the spelling wrong. I will therefore refer to my Grandfather as Nicolas which is certainly the spelling he used when signing that Enlistment paper.

The Enlistment paper also states that he was a violinist. Presumably, Nicolas played the violin as a member of an Edinburgh (or perhaps Scottish) National Orchestra.

Nicolas served only one year and 138 days in the Scots Guards before being fatally wounded on active service at the age of 19 years.

The place of his death is referred to by the Commonwealth Graves Commission as a field in France during battle. The date of his demise is recorded as the 19th April 1916 after he and his comrades were ordered to go over the top from their trenches known as B9 and B10.

I do not know where my Grandfather is buried but if I could find out where, I would make a point of visiting his grave and laying flowers.