Soldier Record

My Grandfather was born in Sawyers Valley in western Australia on the 4th Dec. 1885 and came over to England as a young man where he met and married my Gandmother and some time later they moved to Glaze Bay in Nova Scotia Canada where my Father was born.

In 1913 or there abouts they came over to England on an extended visit to see family members and at that time my Grandfather took a job at a local iron foundry called Howard & Bullars in Accrington.

When war started in 1914 my grandfather along with hundreds more answered the call from the then Accrington mayer to form a local regiment that became known as the 11th service batallion of the East Lancashire Regiment better known today as the Accrington Pals.

The events leading up to the infamous Battle of the Somme are well documented and so I do not need to go into detail regarding those events except to say that my Grandfather was one of those killed on the 1st July 1916 and he is buried in Queens Cemetery at Puisieux in northern France.

I have been out to Puisieux in France twice now with my wife to visit his grave and on the first visit I took along a small amount of English soil from my garden and I placed it on his grave and when my wife asked why I had done that I told her that because my Grandfather did not make it back to England, I had brought a little bit of England out to him.

While standing at his graveside I felt his presence with me, and to me he became a real person in my life and not just a photo on my Grandmothers wall.

I am very proud of my Grandfather even though I never met him and I now have his photo at my house in pride of place on my wall.

When I was 18 I was called up into the army to do my National Service and I served in The East Lancashire Regiment myself and that to me was very special, and it made me so proud to serve in the same regiment that my Grandfather served in so many years before.

I was best recruit of my intake while doing my basic training and I put that down to the fact that I tried that little bit harder to be good at everything that had to be done to become a soldier because I did not want to let my Grandfather down or dishonour his name while I served in his regiment.

My Grandfather & The East Lancasire Regiment are very special to me and I am proud of both having served in his regiment and of him also, and I hope that my son and his son will carry his memory on as I have done after his son my father passed away.

I am 71 years of age now and it is 92 years since the Battle of the Somme but I have made a pledge to my family, that God willing I shall stand at his graveside on the 100th aniversary of the Battle of the Somme when I shall be 79, hopefully with my son and grandson by my side so that they too can share the experience that I had when I first walked in the footsteps of hero's of so many years ago.