1 July 1916

[barry_manc]

Wilfred Owen, wrote "Dulce et Decorum Est"

That's him, immense writer and great tallent, completely wasted.

[KevinC]

That's him, immense writer and great tallent, completely wasted.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Til on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick boys! - An ecstacy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dteams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagan that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the could

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -

My friend, you too would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

[Red`s Ashtonic Lustpit]

Apart from the men in the trenches, there were other staggeringly courageous men. Early submariners must have had nerves of steel (allied and German). To venture out to sea in these vessels, must have required incredible courage on every voyage. WW1 submarines were new (although by then pretty highly developed), and there was no escape devices to speak of. By the end of the war depth charge and hydrophone techniques were causing huge losses.

Read accounts of the forcing of The Narrows at the Dardanelles into the Sea Of Marmara in 1915 for a gripping enactment of a WW1 submariners lot.

[Mr Mosquito]

My grandad died 1 month after I was born, in March 1965, from lung cancer. No doubt the fags greatly contributed, but also the dose of liquid mustard. This I think he got during Third Ypres in 1917, but for the rest of his life he was troubled by rashes/ skin sensitivity.

I regret never hearing first hand of his experiences, but according to my dad (old cliche) he almost never talked of it. The only tales he did recount were of men drowning in shell holes, due to the irredeemably wrecked drainage and abnormally high rainfall.

The names of Nonne Boschen, Polygon Wood, Frezenburg, Pilckem and Hill 60 are chillingly evocative of this lost breed. The Great War has a legendary and iconic status. We should not forget them.

Was your grandad from Bristol? As I previously wrote that two of my grandfather's uncles - from Bristol - went 'missing in action' at the Third Battle of Ypres or 'Passchendaele'. Seems as if mainly Northern regiments were the casualties of the Somme while the regiments of the Bristol area suffered losses at Ypres.

[Red`s Ashtonic Lustpit]

Nope, sorry. He was in the Sussex Regiment, but settled in Forest Of Dean after war (apologies, Gobbo, but he was a royalist copper for 26 years!).

[Mr Mosquito]

Nope, sorry. He was in the Sussex Regiment, but settled in Forest Of Dean after war (apologies, Gobbo, but he was a royalist copper for 26 years!).

My dear departed grandfather, that I've mentioned in my posts, served with the Royalist Air Force from the 1930's 'til the 1950's. My uncle has a photograph of my grandfather meeting the King during WWII. I remember my grandfather commenting that the King was a good bloke but seemed extremely nervous and spoke with a bad stammer/stutter. I wish my grandfather was still alive as he was my window into an almost forgotten era. Elderly relatives can give you information that can't be found in history books and my grandfather used to have many a tale to tell about WWII.