My Grandad aged 21 taken somewhere in France

My maternal grandfather.

What had those eyes seen 1914 to 1918.

He signed up in 1914 with his 'pals' from Benwell in Newcastle upon Tyne, they all went into the Northumberland Fusiliers and fought in many well known battles and campaigns in the trenches of Northern France ...until he was blown up and sent home.

In late 1917 he and a close friend from Benwell were carrying a large hot water kettle full of boiling water from one trench to another and a shell landed next to his friend killing him instantly.  My Grandad was blown back into the trench with severe injuries they thought should have killed him.

I was always told his friend stepped on a landmine but recently found out otherwise.

Months later after time in French Field Hospitals my Grandad was shipped back to England and was eventually nursed back to health.

He then went onto have a full career at Vickers Armstrongs on Tyneside retiring as Brass Foundry Manager.

Apparently he never spoke about his wartime experiences, they just didn't did they...

Thats him second from the left outside the Joan Street Club where he was a well known and well liked committee member <in extras> 

A fine man who passed when I was a toddler.

Sometimes I think I can hear his voice in my dreams and I wish I could speak to him now.

Lest we forget...