the UK Family History and Genealogy blog
Remembrance 2011 – remembering the brave and heroic who fought and who were lost in war.
I get completely tongue-tied when it comes to writing about war and Remembrance. So instead, here’s some photographs of a few of my relatives. Some of whom made it, others who weren’t so lucky.
Remembrance: Owen Gilbert Newman (1919-1944) who died when the Japanese ship he was on, was torpedoed and sunk by American forces.
Owen Gilbert Newman (2009982) served as a Sapper with the 288 Field Company of the Royal Engineers during the Second World War.
Sadly he was taken Prisoner of War by the Japanese and joined 900 other British troops onboard the Kachidoki Maru ship, heading to Japan.
The ship was torpedoed and sunk by USS Pampanito, just North East of Hainan Island, near China on 12th September 1944.
400 British soldiers were on-board and subsequently lost their lives.
Remembrance: Ernest Edward Thomas Dewey (1896-1991).
Ernest lied about his age in order to sign up to the Suffolk Yeomanry
Ernest was a year younger than was permitted – a scenario which was actually quite common amongst men who were keen to fight for their country.
He fought in the First World War and travelled to France and Egypt whilst part of the Yeomanry.
Unlike so many of his comrades, he survived the First World War and went on to live until he was 94 years old.
Due to his work with the Yeomanry, he married after an 11 year courtship to Susan Jane Moden of Ely.
Remembrance of Private Herbert Martin, 1884-1917.
Herbert Martin (40572) enlisted as a Private of the 7th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment.
He was tragically killed on his way home towards the end of the First World War in a train accident in France.
His name is featured on the Little Downham war memorial and was until recently also on a stone in the cemetery, along with his sister Emma and her husband John William Goodge.
Herbert is named in the Cambridge Regiment’s instalment in St. George’s Chapel in Ely Cathedral, where it lists the names of the brave who died during the two world wars.
A series of images of brave soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars.
Owen worked as a Postman and had to carry mail to the front lines during the 1st World War.
It was during the battle at Cumbrai, France, that he was sadly killed. None of his personal possessions were recovered.
He served with the 5th Suffolk Regiment and the 1st Battalion Post Office Rifles.
Ernest Edward Thomas Dewey (1896-1991), originally uploaded by familytreeuk.
Today – the 11th of November at 11am, large areas of the UK were silent to remember the bravest people and animals who had lost their lives during wars.
I wear my poppy with pride, and always try to observe the 2 minute silence at 11:00 11/11/XX each year, but to be honest, I think about those heroes almost every other day and think about the lives that have tragically been lost due to war.
The First World War was savage. Rarely did a family or parish remain unscathed and that was certainly the case with mine, and this affects me even though I never met these people, and now that there are no known surviving WWI veterans, I will never know for sure what it was like. Losing a sibling, a parent, a child, or other family member to war must be heartbreaking.
If you feel the same way, please consider supporting The Royal British Legion
Nestled in a copy of hardbacked leatherbound edition of ‘Modern Practical Cookery (undated)’ that belonged to my Great Grandmother, I’ve just found a Dig For Victory leaflet (no. 11) on “Bottling and Canning Fruit and Vegetables”.
This is the first D4V leaflets that I’ve ever seen, so I thought that I would share this with you…
and here’s the inside…
Click image for a much bigger version.
I thought i’d share these images as they were an important part of the United Kingdom’s wartime history.
11th November was Armistice Day. It has now been 90 years since the First World War ended. A war that claimed the lives of around 20 million people.
This means that it has been 91 years since the death of my Great Grandfather, Herbert Martin. He was a Private in the 7th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment but was killed in a train accident in Boulogne, France on 17th October 1917. The Battalion landed in Boulogne in September 1915. He was 33 and a father of four sons, all under the age of 8yrs.
His little brother Albert died the following year in Germany, apparently as a Prisoner of War in a coalmine (but that remains to be proven). He was just 19.
His sister and brother-in-law, Emma and John Goodge also died during the War.
This is just one part of my family that was touched by the First World War. Every single person lost someone and every family dreaded to hear that their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons would not be coming home again. I can’t begin to imagine what that must feel like, and I hope I never do.
These were exceptionally brave men. Heroes. Thrown together into an impossible situation in which a large number of them didn’t stand a hope in surviving. I am immensely proud of my relatives who fought for their future – our future.
There is seldom a day that passes where I don’t think about our brave men.
