Conduct very satisfactory in all respects

I wonder how many of these have been taken out and read through today ... my grandfather's character certificate written at the time of his discharge from the Royal Engineers in October 1917, after being wounded on active service. His was injured in an accident involving shell filling which badly damaged his right hand. It was thought he would loose the hand, but as a carpenter he asked the surgeon if he could set up his thumb joint so he could at least grip a saw handle. Thankfully - it worked.

He won the DCM and MM while serving at Ypres where he dug some of the tunnels and planted mines under the German trenches. I knew about the MM, but only realised he had the DCM too when I read the notes again today.

30+ years later when my parents first arranged for their families to meet, it became clear that my other grandfather who had also been at Ypres, with the Royal Artillery, was within a couple of miles of the Engineers positions. Apart from that one day, they rarely talked about their experiences.