Remembering

Today I have been remembering my granddad Ernest.

Ernest was born in December 1898.  World War I started in July 1914 when he was 15 and a half.  In the October he joined up and became a Private in the Durham Light Infantry.  At the time you had to be 18 to join the army so obviously he was not asked to provide proof of his age.  In April 1915 when he was 16 he went off to fight in France.  Looking at records it seems that he most likely fought in the second Battle of Ypres.  

At some point in the following months he was gassed and hospitalised.  His father was trying to get him home from the front.  He succeeded in doing this and Ernest came home in October 1915 when he was still two months short of his 17th birthday.  He never went back to France and was transferred to a territorial army division.  Sadly, he suffered from a bad chest for the rest of his life.  

During World War II he joined the Home Guard (see Extra Photo).