Britain is still a country which remembers its 'Old Soldiers' like 109 years old Claude Choules

 

Above, is the family photo taken, I think, in 1914. From left to right, it shows my wonderful Granny, with the twins, Cecil and Cecilia on her lap.
They died shortly after this from the measles.They were 6 months old.

Next, came my Mother holding the flowers which were, 'studio window dressing' and taken from her after the photo was taken.

Then we have my 4 uncles, in their Edwardian suits and on the right, my stern Victorian Grandfather.

Dominating the photo, and probably the reason why it was taken, was the tall man in army uniform with a riding crop under his arm. He was my Uncle George and he was 16 years old.

He'd joined the Army that year, when he was 16 and not 18.

He'd lied about his age and had signed up after a young woman had pinned a 'white feather', a sign of cowardice, in his button hole that year.

He'd immediately taken himself off to the local recruiting office, 'took the King's shilling' and entered his contract to join the British Army.

My Grandfather did not intervene.

At the time he was working with my Grandfather on a horse and cart, delivering jam jars for the Robinson Jam Company in Woolwich in South London. This explains why he joined a cavalry regiment.

Of course, with the use of 'trench warfare', he saw no action on horseback and spent the next 3 years in the trenches in Northern France.

I can't imagine what horrors he experienced.

He was crippled by German poison gas at the end of the War in 1918 and returned home as an invalid in 1918. He was 20 years old and my Mother said that, " he looked like an old man."

The only First War veteran I really knew was a remarkable Welshman called David Parsons. He was studying History at Oxford when War broke out in 1914. He signed up and became an officer, a 'first-lieutenant'.

He didn't know it at the time, but His life expectancy in the trenches was 3 weeks.

David and I used to meet and sip martinis together at his Conservative Club, me in my 20's and he in his 70's. He never once spoke about the War and I never asked.

The facts about the First World War :

* total number of casualties both military and civilian, were about 37,000,000.

* 16,000,000 deaths and 21,000,000 wounded.

I have seen a number of films, both fact and fiction about the First War. This is the scene I find most moving :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqrc46ouZz8

And when they ask us, how dangerous it was?
We'll never tell them, no, we'll never tell them.We spent our pay in some cafe,
And fought wild women night and day,
'Twas the cushiest job we ever had.

And when they ask us, and they're certainly going to ask us,
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre.
Oh, we'll never tell them, oh, we'll never tell them.
There was a front, but damned if we knew where.

P.S. The last man on Earth to have fought in both World Wars is Claude Choules who is 109 years old.


Claude joined the Navy at the age of 16 in 1917 and has said :

'At the time the 'Grand Fleet' was the greatest naval force the World had ever known. We had 43 battleships and battle cruisers and Germany had 24.'

Claude retired from the Navy in 1956. He and Daphne had 3 children, 11 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.

When he was 100 years old, one of his daughters suggested he might buy a new pair of swimming trunks and he said : " Oh, I didn't know, if thought I had another ten years it might be worth it ".

I marked Claude's death in my posting on May 4th 2011 :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50

The ring of truth in this popular song is that, these 'ordinary men' who had been forced to do 'extraordinary things', could not and would not want to tell those back home what they had done and seen.
And When They Ask Us

(Tune: 'They wouldn't believe me')

And when they ask us, how dangerous it was,
Oh, we'll never tell them, no, we'll never tell them:
We spent our pay in some cafe,
And fought wild women night and day,
'Twas the cushiest job we ever had.

And when they ask us, and they're certainly going to ask us,
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre,
Oh, we'll never tell them, oh, we'll never tell them
There was a front, but damned if we knew where.