Nikki-ann

Remembering

Written by Nikki-ann on Sunday, 11 November , 2007 at 7:01 pm

As today is Remembrance Sunday, it’s only fitting that I remember men who fought during the Great War. These men did not die during war, but they survived a hell and had to live with the memories for the rest of their lives.

Granddad Charlie was called up for service with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 5th March 1917. He served as a Lewis Gunner on the Western Front, I believe in the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres). We have been told he was rescued by another man in the field, but I don’t know any details (I can only be eternally grateful). Sometime in 1918 Granddad was reported as missing, but in October of that year the family received a postcard from the British Red Cross stating that though wounded he was reported as a Prisoner of War (Camp not stated). Granddad was repatriated on 4th December 1918 and transfered to Army Reserve on 22nd October 1919. He was given the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service in the Great War.

During World War II, Granddad Charlie served his country once again, this time in The Home Guard. Granddad was certified as having attended a practical examination at a Bombing Range and was qualified to assist in the throwing of live grenades (although I would have thought his time in the Great War trenches would have qualified him for something like that). During this time, my Grandparents also took in a number of evacuees.

As with most Great War veterans, Granddad never said much about his time on the Western Front. I can’t imagine what he’d been through and he probably didn’t want to think about it either. Granddad Charlie died at the grand old age of 86.

Joseph Groom wasn’t family, but he was close enough. I’ve been told my Great Grandfather Alfred took him in at a young age.

As far as I’m aware, Joe had joined the Army before the Great War. He certainly saw battle by November 1914. Joe was in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry and by August 1915 was fighting near Hooge, Belgium. While there, he earned himself a Distinguished Conduct Medal. The London Gazette announced people who had won this prestigious medal and on 15th September 1915 they listed Joe and an account of why he’d been awarded the DCM. It says:

For conspicuous gallantry on the 9th August, 1915, during the attack on the Hooge trenches, when he was ordered to reinforce the captured trenches with a machine gun. In the advance he came under heavy shell fire, the gun was damaged and several of the gun team wounded. Although wounded himself, he bound up his comrades’ wounds, returned to Headquarters and reported, and successfully took another gun and team to the firing line.

A well deserved medal, in my opinion. I also know that he won the British War Medal, Victory Medal and the 1914 Star Medal. He also served in the Nigeria Regiment in West Africa during the Great War.

Joe achieved so much at such a young age, but sadly didn’t live much beyond the Great War. Regimental Sergeant Major Joseph Groom D.C.M. died on 7th April 1919 of “Acute bellow atrophy of the liver”, aged just 23 years old.

May they rest in peace.

Category: Family History, Life, War, Carnival of Genealogy

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