Grandad's Wound

Taking advantage of last weekend's free access to FindMyPast, I found an entry in the weekly War Office casualty for January 1919, in which Grandad Walter is listed. This proves that he was indeed wounded, as suspected, probably during the Battle of the Sambre.

It usually took quite a while for such events to appear in the casualty lists, so it's not always easy to pinpoint the actual date of occurrence, but once again Pte. Henry Atcherley, whose records we have already used to help date Grandad's war service, comes to our assistance as he is also listed.

Atcherley's pension and medical records still exist, which show that he was wounded by shrapnel around the 7th or 8th November 1918, during the aforementioned battle. Considering that shrapnel was later found in Grandad's leg, it's reasonable to assume that he was similarly wounded at that time.

I've updated Grandad's entry accordingly.

Roche Noire Photos

While I have yet to visit Salonika and pay my respects to my great-uncle, I was fortunately contacted by Gary Wall, whose great-uncle also died during the taking of the Roche Noire salient.

To mark the centenary, Gary travelled to Greece, visiting the battlefield and the cemetery at Polykastro (aka Karasouli).

He has kindly allowed me to post some of his photos on the blog. Many thanks mate!

The hilltops that were the focus of the assault

Looking across to the Roche Noir, marked a lump of rock on the hilltop.

View from one of the hilltops looking down towards the British line.

Looking down towards the valley bottom where the British line started the assault.

You can still see outline of trenches on the hilltops.

Gary at his great-uncle's grave at Karasouli Cemetery

John's headstone, located in the previous photo at Gary's right shoulder, just to the right.

Thanks once again Gary!

100 Years Ago Today

As regular readers will know, today is the 100th anniversary of the death of my great-uncle John Price. Lest we forget.

More photos of William Clark

I'm very happy to have been contacted by one of William Clark's granddaughters in Australia!

Thanks very much Rhonda for sending me some great photos and documents, which confirm that the previous photo I had found is indeed of Will.

His page has been updated with some of the new photos and information.