The Somme remembrance 1st July

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TK-421 said:
Absolutely mate, tomorrow at 7.36 (I think) part of the DLI went forward, also some Northumberland Fusiliers too I think. Like you said, could have been us. Truly awful stuff.
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My great grandad was in the Northumberland Fusiliers, he survived the Somme but was killed near Armentiers in January 1917, went to visit his grave a few years back which was an amazing experience. He and all the other brave souls who gave their lives will be in my thoughts tomorrow morning. My great grandmother lost both her 2 year old daughter to illness and then her husband in the space of 3 months, when she received his possessions back there were letters and other items which he had in his pockets when he was killed and they had holes and burn marks in them from the shrapnel that killed him (I still have them) as well as some of his tobacco. I suppose we are very lucky to have those items and a grave to visit when many don't. Incredibly hard times, can't imagine how she must have felt and you realise how lucky we are now thanks to their sacrifices. She went on to start a very successful haulage transport business with her sister in Gateshead as well as bringing up her two sons. Apparently they were pretty driven and ruthless business women and you can understand it with how hard they must have had to work in order to succeed.
 


skullmeister said:
My great grandad was in the Northumberland Fusiliers, he survived the Somme but was killed near Armentiers in January 1917, went to visit his grave a few years back which was an amazing experience. He and all the other brave souls who gave their lives will be in my thoughts tomorrow morning. My great grandmother lost both her 2 year old daughter to illness and then her husband in the space of 3 months, when she received his possessions back there were letters and other items which he had in his pockets when he was killed and they had holes and burn marks in them from the shrapnel that killed him (I still have them) as well as some of his tobacco. I suppose we are very lucky to have those items and a grave to visit when many don't. Incredibly hard times, can't imagine how she must have felt and you realise how lucky we are now thanks to their sacrifices. She went on to start a very successful haulage transport business with her sister in Gateshead as well as bringing up her two sons. Apparently they were pretty driven and ruthless business women and you can understand it with how hard they must have had to work in order to succeed.
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These very personal stories always get to me. The burnt and holed items, they must be rather emotional to hold. Fascinating, yet so so sad.

RIP all.
 
Small point to raise, but I'm pretty sure the offensive didn't actually start at 7:30. Due to miscommunication it set off a bit late and lost some of its element of surprise.

I can remember being told that any German soldier who was directly above one of the massive explosions they set off (Hawthorn Ridge, Lochnagar etc) was instantly vapourised and never seen again.
 
GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
the youngsters whinging about democracy should be educated about this.



i was their to watch them hang them up the other day, looks fantastic

it's 2016 knitted poppies

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/our-r...iversary-of-the-battle-of-the-somme-1-7978889
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maybes the youngsters would question the need to go to war over a few royal families in Europe waving their dicks in the air to be top dog.

WW1 was a totally unnecessary war that took the lives of millions of brave men and woman
 
Cheesy Feet said:
My great grandfather Private David John Gardiner 22050,Durham Light Infantry 8th Battalion was killed in action at the Somme on 3rd August 1916,one of my Aunties has the letter sent out from the M.O.D confirming it,i've researched where he's buried in France,would love to visit his grave one day.
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It is well worth a visit. We did a battlefield tour with a British guy who was a real expert. The sight of those gravestones many with the DLI crest was unforgettable.
 
My Great Grandad Murray was there with Black Watch. Nowadays he would have been diagnosed as PTSD. Instead he was forced to see the war out and sent home an empty shell to die a few years later after drinking himself to death to forget.

Another one in the Northumberland Fusiliers was gassed half to death and taken PoW. When he was repatriated he spent the next 2 years in military hospital.

I find it difficult, even now, to see what these and the many hundreds of thousands of other casualties where fighting for other than a misplaced patriotism for aristocrats that wouldn't give them the stink off their shite if they passed them in the street.
 
tunstallhill said:
20,000 british killed in the first day. will never get my head around it
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Yes some people still say the world is a terrible place now and what kind of world they have brought their kids into. A canny safe one, really.

20,000 in one bloody day man.
 
24 hrs before the Start of The Somme, my local Regiment, The Royal Sussex Regiment (Now The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment) was tasked with creating a diversion to draw away German defenders just South of The Somme.

The Battle is known as "The Battle of Boars Head" it was a total and utter disaster much like the main thrust 24 hrs later.

The 11th Battalion had sustained 116 casualties whilst supporting the attack.
The 12th Battalion lost 429 men either killed or wounded.
The 13th Battalion, however, had been almost entirely destroyed with over 800 men being killed, wounded or captured.

It is known as The Day Sussex Died.

To this day Brighton and Hove Albion run out to the Regiments song "Sussex by The Sea" and the line Stand or Fall has become one of the clubs mottos.
 
My Great Grandfather fought with the Royal Lincolnshire regiment. Joined up at 16. He was shot by a sniper in the leg and survived. It humbles me to think if he'd been shot and killed I wouldn't be typing this nor have the chance to live in what is arguably a settled western world.
 
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

RIP boys
RIP Granda, still think of you every day.
 
They have just read three diaries on BBC - hard not to listen without a lump in your throat

My great grandfather was there and he would never talk about it - all he said was you don't want to know

Staggering when you try to imagine what they went through

Sussex By The Sea said:
24 hrs before the Start of The Somme, my local Regiment, The Royal Sussex Regiment (Now The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment) was tasked with creating a diversion to draw away German defenders just South of The Somme.

The Battle is known as "The Battle of Boars Head" it was a total and utter disaster much like the main thrust 24 hrs later.

The 11th Battalion had sustained 116 casualties whilst supporting the attack.
The 12th Battalion lost 429 men either killed or wounded.
The 13th Battalion, however, had been almost entirely destroyed with over 800 men being killed, wounded or captured.

It is known as The Day Sussex Died.

To this day Brighton and Hove Albion run out to the Regiments song "Sussex by The Sea" and the line Stand or Fall has become one of the clubs mottos.
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Just staggers you when you read/imagine what they went through
 
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