Hello. In this edition, we have articles by Keith on Martin’s talk last month, and a moveable war memorial. Caroline continues her account of the siege of Kut. As ever, I am grateful for the “day by day” material that Jim Morris produces and which he lets us use for the Facebook page. BUT talking of Jim, he is moving out of the area, so we need a new treasurer. Could anyone interested please contact Mark or Fiona in person or on email – wfanorthwales@sky.com ? We also have a “stop-press” update on Steve and Nancy’s latest travels.
Trevor
The Programme for 2016
May 7th – The Easter Rising – Denis McCarthy & Trevor Adams
June 4th – Lionel Rees VC – Alistair Williams
July 2nd – General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien – Arthur Aston
August 6th – Lesser Known Heroes of WW1 – Andy Johnson
September 3rd – Profiles of the Great War, Silhouettes of Captain Oakley – Jerry Rendell
October 1st – Lord Ninian, 6th Welch and the Battle of Loos (Two weeks in the life of a Welsh Battalion on the Western Front) – Marietta Crichton-Stuart
November 5th – Mountaineers in the Great War – Anne Pedley
December 3rd – Branch Social
Last month’s speaker (April)
Keith Walker
Martin Hornby came up from Somerset to give us a talk on: “The Padres in the Great War”
First, Martin gave us an overview of the chaplains and their work. The Chaplains Dept. was formed in 1796. The job of the chaplains was to give spiritual and pastoral care to the troops of the Army. In the beginning, it was only Anglican chaplains who joined. The Roman Catholics joined in 1833, followed in 1858 by the Presbyterian church. The Wesleyan church joined in 1881, and finally the Jewish church in 1892.
In 1853, at the start of the Crimean War (October 1853 – March 1856) 26,000 troops were sent out, but only one chaplain, the Reverend Henry Press Wright (9th December 1814 – 18th September 1892.)
It was a surprise to Martin how many chaplains were awarded bravery medals. The first Victoria Cross to a chaplain was awarded during the second Afghan War, on the 11th December 1879 to the Reverend James William Adams (24th November 1839 – 24th October 1903 aged 63) of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Dept., attached to the 9th Lancers.
By the time of the Great War, the chaplains department had grown to 380 chaplains in 1914. At the end of the war in November 1918, this number was 3,475. Martin then went on to explain how three chaplains became nationally, and internationally, well known.
The three were:-
- Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy MC known as “Woodbine Willie”
- Philip Thomas Byard Clayton CH MC known as “Tubby Clayton”
- Theodore Bayley Hardy VC DSO MC known by his phrase “It’s only me”
Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy MC (27th June 1883 – 8th March 1929 aged 46) was born in Leeds, educated at Trinity College Dublin and worked as a chaplain in the area of St Paul’s, Worcester.
In early 1914, he joined the Army Chaplains Dept. and was posted to France. He was awarded his Military Cross for action on the Messines Ridge in 1917 for going into no man’s land to help wounded soldiers. During the war he wrote poetry. His two books are “Rough rhymes of a padre” published in 1918 and “More rough rhymes” published in 1919. After the war, he join the Industrial Christian Fellowship and it was while working for them in Liverpool that the Rev. Kennedy became ill with influenza and died. His funeral was held in Worcester where thousands lined the street throwing Woodbine packets onto the passing cortege. He is buried at Worcester St Johns Cemetery.
Philip Thomas Byard Clayton CH MC (12th December 1885 – 16th December 1972) was born in Queensland, Australia. His family returned to England when Philip was two years old. Rev Clayton was ordained at Oxford. He was a chaplain at Portsea from 1910 to 1915. In 1915, he joined the Army Chaplains Dept. and was posted to France. From there he was moved to Flanders. In 1915, he set up an “r&r” centre with the Rev Neville Talbot at Poperinge. This became known as Talbot House and from this came the name “Toc H”. Toc H is signallers’ jargon. Rev PTB Clayton was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. After the war, Tubby became the vicar at All Hallows by the Tower in London. It was from there that he promoted the work of Toc H which became a worldwide organisation. In the Second World War, Tubby became a chaplain on oil tankers. Tubby died in 1972 and is buried at All Hallows London.
Theodore Bayley Hardy VC DSO MC (20th October 1863 – 18th October 1918) was born in Exeter. He was ordained on the 18th December 1898 and was appointed as a priest to St George’s Church, Nottingham. In 1913, he became priest at Hutton Roof in Cumbria.
When the Great War broke out in 1914, Hardy tried and tried to join the Army Chaplains Dept. but at 51 with poor eyesight he was refused. He tried to join the RAMC as a stretcher bearer and again was refused, but after the battle of the Somme in 1916, Hardy was finally allowed to join the Army Chaplains Dept.
He was posted to France were he was attached to the 8th Lincolnshire’s. He was awarded his DSO on the 18th October1917, his MC on the 23rd April 1918, and his VC for actions on the 5th, 25th, 26th and 27th April 1918. Hardy was wounded in action trying to help wounded soldiers. He was transferred down the line, but he succumbed to his wounds on the 18th October 1918. He is buried at St Server Cemetery Extension at Rouen.
Martin said how much courage and devotion to duty these chaplains showed. They were not only in the front line, but sometimes in front of the front line. Hardy is the most decorated non-combatant in WW1.
Martin finished the talk with a recording of the poem “My Mate” by Rev GAS Kennedy, “Woodbine Willie.”
Footnotes
- The little book Martin spoke of is “It’s only me” by David Raw published in 1988 by Frank Peters Publishing Ltd, Kendal.
- The British Chaplains in WW1 received 3 VCs, 67 DSOs and 487 MCs.
- Martin is trying to find Tubby Clayton’s citation for his MC.
A mobile memorial
Keith Walker
On a recent visit to the Black Country Living Museum at Dudley in the West Midlands I saw an interesting war memorial, known as Butler’s war memorial (in the photo below).
This memorial is situated within the grounds of the museum. This memorial had a life of its own. It was moved several times. The memorial was first erected in 1923 at the William Butler Brewery at Wolverhampton to commemorate not only those who had fallen in the First World War, but also those who had survived.
It stood in the entrance yard of the brewery for many years. In 1949, the firm added a Second World War roll of honour. After some near misses by lorries, it was decided to move the memorial to a safer place near the malting house. When this was demolished in 1979, the memorial was moved to the firm’s sports club. In 1986, the club closed and the memorial was moved back to the brewery. Then in 1991, the brewery closed and the memorial found a new home at the TAVR Centre at Wolverhampton. The memorial was finally moved to the Black Country Museum in 2010 so that more people could see it.
The bronze figure of the soldier was modelled by the sculptor Robert Jackson Emerson FRBS (Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors), RBSA (21st June1878 – 7th December 1944). He was born in Rothley, Leicestershire. He was a teacher at Wolverhampton Art School. He created the memorial to the 34th Division at La Boiselle on the Somme. Two casts were made from the mould. The second memorial to the 34th Division is at Mont Noir, near Baillieul on the Belgian border.
Above – The memorial at La Boiselle, without her laurel wreath and, below, the memorial at Mont Noir with the laurel wreath
The Siege of Kut: March & April 1916
Caroline Adams
After the failed attack on the Dujaila redoubt in early March, 1916 (see Dragon’s Voice, March 2016), Aylmer was dismissed and General Sir George Gorringe took over command of the Tigris Corps for the final attempt at the relief of Kut. Townshend reassessed the remaining supplies in Kut and issued a revised deadline for relief, 15th April, 1916. Had he revised his estimate sooner, Aylmer could have waited for further troops to arrive before attempting his attack on Dujaila. Would it have changed the outcome? It is impossible to know, but certainly the situation was not helped by Townshend’s lack of accurate knowledge of his own resources.
Taking advantage of his success at Dujaila, the Ottoman commander, Khalil Bey, invited Townshend to surrender. He declined, but did ask, in his next report to London, if he could enter negotiations if there was any doubt of Kut being relieved by 17th April. This fuelled the War Committee’s fears that an Ottoman victory could spark a pan-Islamic revolt. They were ready to consider any suggestion and Kitchener had two. There had been a number of Shiite rebellions in the Middle Euphrates and he suggested the use of agent provocateurs to encourage further uprisings to force Khalil to use some of the troops besieging Kut to suppress the rebellion. In addition, he thought that Ottoman officials were sufficiently corrupt that a senior Ottoman commander could be bribed to allow Townshend and his men to withdraw from Kut, unopposed. Kitchener asked the Cairo Military Intelligence Office to provide a suitable officer to undertake both missions. Few in the Cairo Office were willing to attempt such improbable tasks but Captain TE Lawrence was willing to try. Lawrence spoke fluent Arabic and, due to his extensive discussions with Arabic Ottoman officers held by the British, he had identified a potential leader for the rebellion, Sulayman Faydi. Lawrence travelled to Basra to meet him and Faydi held lengthy discussions with three other Iraqi Arabists but none of them were convinced the plan would succeed. They did not trust the British or the Bedouin Arab tribes with whom they would have to work. So much for Kitchener’s plan for an Arab revolt!
While this was going on, Gorringe was planning his campaign. He had several sea planes which could take off and land on the River Tigris. He used these to assess the development of the flooding which took place at that time of year as well as to photograph the Ottoman positions and used the information to accurately brief his forces. By mid-April, he also had land-based aircraft and airdrops were tried to resupply the besieged garrison. Even though, like many subsequent airdrops, they were of limited success, the attempt must have helped morale within Kut.
The final push started on 4th April, 1916 and continued for most of the month. The seasonal flooding was accompanied by appalling weather, the worst on the 11th April when a thunderstorm was followed by a waterspout, hail and hurricane. The Ottomans used the flood water to their advantage diverting it towards the British by breaching the bunds (dykes). Troops waded through water, got stuck in mud and drowned in flooded shell holes. Despite this, progress was made and the fighting came close enough for Townshend’s troops to fire their five inch guns at a Turkish ferry, when the mirage permitted accurate sighting. The fighting was fierce and casualties were high on both sides. At least five VCs were awarded, including the Rev. WRF Addison, chaplain to the 6th Loyal North Lancashires.
But it was not enough. By the 22nd April, Gorringe realised his troops could not break through. In a last desperate attempt to supply Kut, the steamship Julnar was reinforced with steel plate and loaded with three weeks supply of food and medicine. She set off at night on 24th April, crewed by volunteers. Weighted down by her armour and stores, she could only make five knots against the current, giving the Ottomans time to prepare for her arrival with a cable stretched across the Tigris, five miles from Kut. The captain was executed, the crew taken prisoner and the stores were appropriated by the Ottomans.
There was no option now but to surrender Kut and negotiations opened on 26th April. Townshend wanted his commander General Percy Lake to lead the discussions but Lake did not want to be involved in what would certainly end in British humiliation and instructed Townshend to carry on with the assistance of Captain Aubrey Herbert, an intelligence officer from the East India fleet, Captain TE Lawrence of the Cairo Military Intelligence Office and Colonel Edward Beach of the Tigris Corps Intelligence Branch. This was Lawrence’s opportunity to try Kitchener’s second ploy, to bribe an Ottoman commander. There appears, however, to have been no communication between these three and Townshend. Townshend initially tried to buy his troops freedom with an offer of 40 cannon and £1million if they were allowed to withdraw on a pledge not to take up arms again against the Ottomans. When this was rejected, he destroyed the cannon and, on 29th April, 1916, offered his unconditional surrender. Although they did not know it, by the time the three negotiators met Khalil Bey, later that day, the Kut garrison were already prisoners of war. He listened politely but dismissively to their plea for clemency towards the Arab citizens of Kut and their attempts to buy the freedom of the garrison. Khalil’s one request was for ships to transport the British prisoners to Baghdad to avoid them having to walk. Beach knew they did not have enough shipping for the Tigris Corps as it was, and could only refer the request to General Lake. As it was clear to Khalil that this deputation was relatively junior and had nothing new to offer, they were dismissed. Military success was more important than money to Khalil. Senior Ottoman officers were not as easy to bribe as Kitchener thought.
Over the previous four months, the relief force had suffered over 23,000 casualties. On 29th April, 1916, the 13,309 men they had sought to rescue became prisoners of war, the largest British surrender ever.
References
Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans
Paul Knight, The British Army in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918
SomeKindHand April Pilgrimage
Nancy and Steve Binks
After a break of six months, Nancy and I returned to France/Belgium to carry on our Pilgrimage to the fallen of the “Empire” from the Great War. April was to involve a final mop-up of burial grounds missed from our previous chronological attempts, or those just too geographically challenging; Marseilles for example. We then added a further group of burial grounds from our 1917 itinerary; bringing our target to around thirty four visits. We calculated a round trip of about 3,700 miles for which we had twenty three days to complete.
After a two day break in Folkestone, we boarded the cross channel ferry on Tuesday 29th March; first campsite stop was to be Chalon en Champagne, near Rheims, with visits to Suippes (1) and La Cheppe (13 including a French Red Cross driver), both French National Cemeteries. From Chalon we headed to the department of the Yonne in mind to do two visits with the caravan in tow – never easy on the nerves! Sens-sur-Yonne (1) and St. Florentin (1). Both servicemen were Australians and set the tone for the next few visits; accidental deaths on trains. At Sens we said “thank-you” to Private Michael Thomas Kennedy (24th btn. AIF). Artillery excepted, I think he was the first AIF casualty in France (28th March1916)
French military grave in St. Florentin with the soldier’s original “dog tag”.
The single Australian grave of Trooper A. McKinnon Australian Light Horse (died 18th June 1916), was covered by box shrub, that the local gardener hadn’t got round to trimming yet; at least we gave him the benefit of the doubt!
Bed for the night was a lay-by on the A6 AutoRoute, close to our next campsite, Avallon in the department of Cote d’Or. It was very wet when we arrived and had some trouble moving the vehicle off the grass pitch. From here, the following day we visited a further four burial grounds: Montbard (1), the beautiful hill top village of Salmaise (1), Blaissy-Bas (1) and Baulme la-Roche (1). Three of the four servicemen were confirmed casualties as the result of train accidents.
After another car and caravan stop at Seurre (1) our journey south began in earnest, as we pulled in to the service area north of Orange, aptly named “Porte du Soliel”, settling down for the night, to dream of warmer weather than that we had experienced so far.
We awoke around 8.00am, sun filtered through the window blinds as Nancy asked me where my trousers were? We had been burgled! My wallet, Nancy’s bag with passports had both gone. My car keys were still in situ, but they had rifled through the car – must have left it open. Thankfully, they were only after money, as everything except £15 – I had no euros – was dumped back in the car. Later Nancy discovered that her perfume (I had bought on the ferry) had gone and her precious Artists’ Rifles mirror compact. To my relief, my hard drive which contains all our cemetery research and images was safe. Perhaps they gave up trying to find anything else in that bag! For those who have followed our Pilgrimage blogs, you will know that this is our third robbery in eighteen months!
We arrived at Camping La Pinarde in Lezignan–Corbieres, west of Narbonne late Monday afternoon, 4th April. Like most early season sites it was deserted; a bit creepy after the previous night’s burglary! The following morning we had other things to occupy us; the weather – it was wet, cold and lousy. Still, we had two visits to complete: Narbonne East (1) and Guissan (1). Up to this point, the only problems we had encountered with finding burials was my out of date sat-nav, which was finally ditched after some strange directional instructions leaving Montbard. Now at the very large communal cemetery we were having difficulty finding the single grave of Gunner Fred Bishop. We have learnt to ensure that we properly research grave locations, particularly if we know the burial ground is large. CWGC instructions: “In the [French] military plot close to the entrance”. After looking around for ten minutes with no joy, I went to find the cemetery concierge who could point me in the right direction. He escorted us to the right of the entrance and there amongst “newish” civilian burials was our man. The old military graves have long since gone but the CWGC records remain the same as the original register; a similar problem we encountered at several isolated burial grounds.
The second visit of the day brought us to Guissan, a thriving holiday resort with marina. Tucked away in the old part of town was the communal cemetery and the isolated grave of Captain Eric Cosgrave Simpson. With the help of internet connection, I found that Captain Simpson was one of the 413 casualties of troopship SS Transylvania. It was sunk by a German U-Boat on the 4th May 1917. With the assistance of a thread on the Great War Forum, I was able to work out that many of our planned visits would indeed be casualties that had been washed ashore from the SS Transylvania.
After a day off for good behaviour (and some decent weather at last), we moved off the next day to Aix en Provence; it would act as our base for the remaining visits around the south coast. A quick calculation of days remaining, location of burial grounds and the time and effort to hitch/unhitch at different campsites, convinced us both that we would not achieve all our intended visits at our current pace. It didn’t take much convincing to delay our visits to the departments: Vosges, Bas-Rhin, Jura and Meurthe-et-Moselle; after all, with the exception of Nancy Southern Cemetery (13) and Luxeuil les Bains (4), all other burials were 1917.
Friday 8th April brought us to our first recognised CWGC: Mazargues (1488), in Marseilles. It was with some trepidation that we negotiated the Friday morning madness to arrive just before 10.00am. We entered the cemetery through the civilian cemetery, access only available when the communal cemetery is open, as is the main entrance, the cemetery having suffered much vandalism over the years. It was then a pleasant surprise to be greeted by full time gardener, Ian Craig, in his oasis. What a fantastic setting. The backdrop of the Provencal mountains, the green grass, white headstones, channels of running water (acting as irrigation for the plants) and the smell of the lavender, just breaking in to flower. It truly is a magnificent cemetery and a real credit to Ian and his dedication.
the beautiful British War cemetery (Mazargues) in Marseilles. The Indian Memorial (to the missing) is to the right of the image. I have asked the CWGC for further information as a brief internet search found nothing.
I was surprised to see an Indian Memorial (of six panels), as there was no explanation for said memorial in the register! I didn’t count the names but read them and added “thank-you”. We will find more information when we get home. What was good to see was the array of regimental cap badges where the Indian headstones had been renewed. Throughout the cemetery was the tell-tale date, 4th May, 1917: SS Transylvania casualties.
one of the many new headstones now engraved with Indian regimental insignia.
Back at Aix on the Saturday we planned a two day round robin trip to visit thirteen burial grounds in the Var, Alpes-Maritimes and Principality of Monaco. It would mean an overnight stop, and a 300 mile round-trip, but preferable to another two campsites. There is something quite tiring and tedious about staying on campsites for short periods!
In planning the route, we realised that we had yet another island visit: Iles de Porquerolles, off the Giens peninsula! Unlike Iles d’Esserent, (Finistere) we planned to incorporate Porquerolles into a day of six visits, not an isolated trip. Sunday’s run (in order of visits) was: Hyeres (1), Porquerolles (4), Giens (1), Bormes-les-Mimosas (2), and Ramatuelle (2); all were SS Transylvania casualties.
Back at Aix on the Saturday we planned a two day round robin trip to visit thirteen burial grounds in the Var, Alpes-Maritimes and Principality of Monaco. It would mean an overnight stop, and a 300 mile round-trip, but preferable to another two campsites. There is something quite tiring and tedious about staying on campsites for short periods!
In planning the route, we realised that we had yet another island visit: Iles de Porquerolles, off the Giens peninsula! Unlike Iles d’Esserent, (Finistere) we planned to incorporate Porquerolles into a day of six visits, not an isolated trip. Sunday’s run (in order of visits) was: Hyeres (1), Porquerolles (4), Giens (1), Bormes-les-Mimosas (2), and Ramatuelle (2); all were SS Transylvania casualties.
The visit to Bormes was a poignant moment for me. On a family holiday in 1996, having recently been bitten by the Great War bug, I inquisitively visited the French memorial in the communal cemetery we were passing and noticed two English names: Reynolds and Bland. Although on several occasions over the years I wondered why these men were on a French memorial, I never bothered to research them. Their graves were just beyond the war memorial with that tell-tale date, 4th May 1917. Privates Reynolds and Bland – “thank-you” for bringing me full circle!
Having suffered the terrible St. Tropez traffic – in April – we arrived at our overnight stop at Les Issambres, twenty minutes down the coast from St. Raphael. It was like being in “Benidorm the Series”. Just never believed the French went in for this type of holiday. It was a bit of a shock being asked to wear a wrist band for breakfast!
the four graves on the Iles de Porquerolles; the three known are soldiers from the sinking of SS Transylvania. The unknown British seaman (in the foreground) is very likely to be one of the crew. Old commemorative crosses indicate someone else has made the Pilgrimage.
Our Pilgrimage on the second day took us first to St Raphael Communal Cemetery and another single casualty from SS Transylvania. Then it was on to Nice, where we would visit two burial grounds; thankfully, close-by each other. The enormity of Caucade cemetery sent me scurrying for the help of the concierge at the bureau, just to locate the military sector! He invited us in, and for twenty minutes interrogated his computer, eventually printing off a ream of paper with each of the servicemen’s locations (both cemeteries) pinpointed each on a separate map. I only needed to know where the military plot was! Each of the French “carres” was named after French battlegrounds: Marne, Verdun etc.; repeated later in the day at Menton.
Left – the grave of Private William Edwin Gravell (60th Btn. AIF) who fell to his death (30th June 1916) from the train which had already passed on the distant viaduct
Access to the graves was quite difficult – a mass of stairs – and so it was well over an hour before we drove the short distance to the British Civil cemetery, over the road. I missed the main entrance and hopped over a low fence. Having commended the concierge for his thoroughness, I now praised him further, as without his “maps”, I would have struggled to find the three graves in the run-down British part of the cemetery. There was little evidence that graves were being looked after and no sign that the three servicemen had seen a visitor for some time.
Below – the French regimental memorial to the Alpins Chasseurs in Nice (Caucade) Cemetery
It was after 2.00pm when we departed Nice for what became the hardest part of the day as we negotiated the twisting and winding coast road from St Jean Cap Ferrat (1), via Cap d’Ail (1) and Monaco (2) to Menton (1). The last named place was a nightmare to find as my redundant sat-nav got pay back! At Monaco we struggled to find exactly what to say “thank-you” to. The CWGC instructions indicated that there were two commonwealth soldiers buried under the war memorial. I checked the memorial for the names Dyer and Ralli, but with no luck. Experience has taught me to check for a crypt – which we found – but no servicemen buried there! I asked several people if they could help us, but found it difficult to explain exactly what we were looking for. Finally, a smart looking chap grasped what we were looking for, took out his phone and made several telephone calls. Twenty minutes later he returned to tell us that records only went back to 1922! A call to the CWGC in Maidenhead only confirmed the information we already had. Tired and downhearted we returned to the memorial for one further look. In the centre column up some stairs was a large oak door. I pushed it and it opened. “There they are. Commemorated inside the memorial!!” Almost ninety minutes had elapsed before we set off for our last visit.
Below – Private Arthur Charles Vinson Dyer, R.A.M.C (4th May 1917). Washed up from SS Transylvania and buried at the time in the Principality Cemetery at Monaco. Later his grave was covered by the Monegasque Memorial in 1928.
After a day of rest we left Aix and headed north towards the department of Soane-Loire in the region of Burgundy. With our home leg itinerary much reduced, we had settled on just one break of journey to Ypres that would bring us to the campsite at Dompierre les Ormes, from where we would visit the communal cemetery at Mussy-Sous-Dun. Our journey was uneventful until we reached the Autoroute exit. In the distance was the blackest sky we had ever witnessed and that was the direction we were heading! The following hailstorm was quite terrifying; we didn’t want to stop in case those lunatics in their HGV’s wiped us out and if we couldn’t get the traction to move again, as the road was covered in ice. It lasted at least five minutes and in true French style, the sun came out!
At Mussy the following day, we paid our respects to Private William Edwin Gravell, 60th battalion, AIF. He was yet another railway casualty. He died on the 30th June 1916 when he fell from the train whilst trying to urinate through the window. (The train had no toilet facilities and there were few stops). Although there was a court of enquiry – which apportioned no blame – no record of his burial was passed to the Graves Registration. Only in 2005 was the isolated grave recognised by the CWGC. He is still commemorated on the Villers Bretonneaux Memorial.
On Saturday 16th April, we started the long journey to Ypres, punctuated by an overnight stop on another “aire”. As uncomfortable as this sounds, in the light of past events, financially we had little choice and will need to factor in further overnights at these free “sites” to continue our Pilgrimage over the coming years.
Whilst in Ypres we only had one burial ground to visit: Hazebrouck Communal (877). No idea why we had missed this from previous years! The remainder of our week was spent preparing for tours but on our last day we attended the funeral of six RFA men at Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, quite ironic.
Carre de Verdun at Menton (Trabuquet) New Communal Cemetery. Gunner J. Young, R.F.A (23rd November 1917, is buried in Carre Marne to the left
What’s next?
We completed a further twenty six visits and added a further 2,411 “thank-yous” and completed all 1914 and 1916 burial grounds, leaving just two from 1915. So now our attention turns to 1917: Hindenburg Line, Arras, 3rd Ypres and Cambrai, but not forgetting V Corps burial grounds on the Somme: in all around 450 burial grounds.
Ideally, after allowing for tour commitments we would have returned to our Pilgrimage this week (4th May). However, Nancy’s continuing health issues so dominate our lives at the moment that we need to remain in the UK for the time being.
(Document completed on the 4th May 2016, ninety nine years to the day that SS Transylvania was sunk).
Trevor Adams http://www.nwwfa.org.uk trevormcmadams@gmail.com