On the Road Again!

Recently unearthed by my brother Neill.  We have photos of both our relatives killed on the battlefields of France during WW1. Charles Devall William Devall  " In Flanders Fields "     In Flanders fields the poppies blow           Between the crosses, row on row,        That mark our place; and in the sky        The larks, still bravely singing, fly     Scarce heard amid the guns below.         We are the dead, short days ago       We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,        Loved and were loved, and now we lie              In Flanders fields.     Take up our quarrel with the foe:     To you from...

With the centenary of the end of WW1 coming very soon. I thought I'd post this little snippet from the KSLI Regimental Museum in Shrewsbury. It's filled in a few details of what little we know about William. "William died 99 years ago. He landed in France with the 2nd Battalion on 21-12-14, at some point moved to the 1st Batt., wounded with the 1st Batt. about 6th or 7th Jan 1916 while in trenches in La Brique left sector. I do not know when he joined the 7th Batt." As far as I know La Brique is on the Ypres Salient. I'll have to check the maps and the KSLI Regimental history book. P.S. It's 102 years now. Update 29/10/2018 This is from the KSLI website.  The 2nd Battalion arrival date at le Havre tallies with the above note from the museum's curator. https://www.shropshireregimentalmuseum.co.uk/regimental-history/shropshire-light-infantry/the-kings-shropshire-light-infantry-1914-1918/ As for being wounded whil...

Yesterday was the 97th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.  I was amazed that with interest building for the Centenary of the start of the Great War, that no one picked up on it for their news programmes. Claire and I have been across a number of times to visit the cemeteries and war graves of our relatives killed fighting on the trenches between 1914 and 1918. So I thought maybe in 2014 we could have a weekend there as a family commemoration and also mark the Centenary. There's plenty of time yet but an outline of the trip is forming in my mind. Our Somme connection is that one of my Grandfather's cousins is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Corbie near Amiens in the Somme region. William Devall was born in south London but was sent to join the Shropshire Light Infantry. The 7th Battalian was a service battalian, created for the war only. A notable comrade was Siegfried Sassoon the famed war poet wh...