The eldest William Thomas, enlisted in 1907 and served with the Wiltshires in India before returning to fight with the BEF in 1914. He was invalided out with Frostbite and epilepsy in December that year. He subsequently died in 1921 due to diseases picked up in India. He left a widow and three children.
His brother George joined the Wiltshire Yeomanry in 1915 and fought in France through 1916/17 He was killed on the Somme on 23 March 1917. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial
The final brother Sidney enlisted in the Warwickshires in 1916 but wasn't transferred to France until April 1918. He suffered a severe gunshot wound in his left arm in July and was returned to hospital in England. He was discharged as unfit for service in October. He was my grandfather.
2 comments:
Top post Will. I am always moved by stories from the Great War. Such close, personal ones all the more. I am 'studying' it in more detail as part of the research side of this hobby; a big part for me. My own grandfather, whom I never met, served in Palestine. He got through it, but died of lung cancer while my father was in Germany in the occupation post-'45.
Regards, James
Memory. This is what wargaming is all about.
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