Soldier Record

Herbert Morrod died in 1960 at the age of 78. I had come to know my grandfather as a shadowy figure who used to emerge through the darkness of what I came to realise were the blacked-out evenings and nights of World War Two. In 1945, at the age of four, I was made aware of his contribution in the local community in Droyleden, Manchester. Through the many air-raids on Manchester by Germen bombers he had nightly worked as an air-raid warden. As I grew older, I also became aware of the contrubution that he had made during the World War One where he had survived the killing- fields of Northern France from 1914-18. Over the years not only was he my grandfather, he was also my best friend. I slowly came to realise the sacrifice that some of his friends had made. Ninety years ago a band of brave young men, emerged from the trenches of hell. Battle weary soldiers, with an awful tale to tell.