Soldier Record

My Grandfather served with 329 Quarrying Company, Royal Engineers for two and a half years, in Lourches, Lens, Denain and Hydrequent. Before the war he served his apprenticeship as a Grocer and after his discharge, in 1918, he started his own Family Grocers in West Heath, Birmingham. He married Lillian Hobbs and had one son, Frederick, who also became a Grocer.

A solid, homely man - my Mentor and much loved.

As a family we all moved to Bridgwater, Somerset in 1957, where my Grandparents ran a Wool Shop, before retiring to Burnham-on-Sea.

Joseph never spoke about the war and the only story I was told was that he once had all his clothes blown off when a shell landed close to him. It is only recently that I have researched his life, with the help of letters and postcards handed down from my, now deceased, parents. With researching the First World War on the internet and in books, I now understand his reluctance to talk about his experiences and this makes his and all the soldiers' sacrifices so much more poigniant. They were amazing men and I only wish that I could have expressed my feelings to all of them, especially Sapper Joseph Blakeway - my Grandfather.