Featured A century after the Somme

Discussion in 'Militaria' started by daveydempsey, Jul 1, 2016.

  1. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

    Ist July 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme or the Somme offensive.
    Lots of commemorations going on here and in France.

    Someone sent me this picture of a local city Tram used as a recruiting post for troops in WWI.
    I wonder if my grandfather joined on it.
    He fought in the Somme and Flanders, he was wounded in Ypres, most of his regiment were wiped out.


    13235234_233847093673533_317784237699273351_o.jpg


    George Williams 18 years, (1896-1988).
    img859.jpg
     
  2. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

    Children preparing to lay wreaths at the graves of the fallen.

    Somme.jpg
     
  3. KingofThings

    KingofThings 'Illiteracy is a terrible thing to waist' - MHH

    RIP and bless them all. :(
     
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  4. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

  5. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    God Bless them all !
     
    cxgirl, Makanudo, lloyd249 and 2 others like this.
  6. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

  7. Poisonivy

    Poisonivy Well-Known Member

    So sad and so unnecessary.
     
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  8. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    I'd call it downright stupid, if it weren't so tragic. Parts of Europe lost an entire generation of men in that war.
     
  9. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

    I heard a story today on the radio.

    A guy purchased the WWI medals and death plaque of a soldier who died in the Somme who was from his same city Manchester.
    The medals and plaque were sent to the soldiers parents along with a letter from the king after the war.

    The parents had no other relatives and after they died the medals eventually found there way into an auction.

    After buying the medals this guy researched the deceased soldier.
    This week he put a wreath and poppy on the door of his former home, he then found the grave marker in France and visited it yesterday and laid another wreath and flowers.

    He said he felt compelled to do it for someone he had no connection with, didn`t know and never met.
     
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  10. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    Sounds like something I would have done too. The guy deserved to be remembered, but there wasn't anyone else left.
     
  11. GaleriaGila

    GaleriaGila Hola, y'all!

    This the first I have learned of this history and celebrations. Thank you, Dave.

    Can't help but think of my dear almost-forgotten Uncle Antonio. Unbeknownst to any of us he had been in/near the Battle of the Bulge, had been captured and was a POW for a time, before the end of the war apparently brought him home. He lived the rest of his life quietly and humbly, like so many did, I'm sure. And thanks again to all here who helped me find all that out. His family was preparing to discard the few little relics he had left behind before people here helped me discover and remember his story.

    Shout out to Tio Antonio.

    For all those lost in the Somme Offensive, I would wish them remembrance.
     
  12. Makanudo

    Makanudo There is no such thing as simple.Simple is hard.

    Many dead, little gained.
    Trench warfare as a "brilliant" strategy combined with chemical weapons and heavy artillery were stupid unneccesary and yielded no results apart from depopulating many countries. Western front was pure horror fueled by military ignorance.
     
    KingofThings likes this.
  13. KingofThings

    KingofThings 'Illiteracy is a terrible thing to waist' - MHH

  14. KingofThings

    KingofThings 'Illiteracy is a terrible thing to waist' - MHH

    :(
     
  15. KingofThings

    KingofThings 'Illiteracy is a terrible thing to waist' - MHH

    Excellent!
    I get that 100%.
     
    SBSVC likes this.
  16. SBSVC

    SBSVC Well-Known Member

    My great uncles (my paternal grandmother's brothers) died a bit later, at Bois de Consenvoye, France, 8 October 1918, at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

    As others have said, "what a waste".

    -C-
     
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  17. KingofThings

    KingofThings 'Illiteracy is a terrible thing to waist' - MHH

    :(
     
  18. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    My grandfather was in that too, as a cook with a machine gun batallion. He started out with lots of cook pots and ended up with lots of collendars, but Grandpa himself came through with no holes. The trench warfare stuff ... waste is an understatement. I'd have lined the generals up who came up with that idea and shot them, no matter whose uniform they were wearing.
     
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  19. cxgirl

    cxgirl Well-Known Member

    Thanks for sharing this Dave!
    In post #6 where is the first photo from?
     
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  20. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

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