World War I - the 'Great War'

Helen. Yes, thanks from me also. I heard it was from all the huge rats that plagued the battlefields when the fighting stopped. I remember having to sleep for a week on a railway platform because of bubonic plague, caused by rats.

Almost 90 years ago my brother and sister and I had been putting up Xmas decorations when dad said, "On a Christmas Day a German in the trenches started to sing a Christmas carol. Everything stopped to hear this beautiful voice across no-mans land. When he had finished, clapping and cheering erupted from both lines of trenches, then he began another carol and a British voice joined him different language but the same carol. Near the end German soldiers joined in, followed by the British. The carols rolled over no-mans land and the whole countryside. The carols went on for a long time." Dad was remembering and tears streamed down his face - we hugged and kissed him. Yesterday on Facebook, a bunch of singers in uniform sang the story, only they left out the Germans singing and changed the words to tell the story, but nowhere near the emotion as when I first heard the story. ps - I believe I posted this about two years ago, but have no idea in what topic I placed it.

Yes Kaga, the carol was 'Silent Night' (in German) 'Stille Nacht!' They crossed into No Man's Land and kicked a football around. A temporary 'Armistice' for one day only.

Kaga, Prof. Not forgetting the movie either.

We used to have a neighbour who served in the First World War. We knew he had written down his experiences. When he died my mum found them put out by whoever cleared the house for the dustman, so she "rescued" them. She eventually passed them on to a well known author of WWI books who passed them to another. For a long time we did not know what had happened to them, the theory was that they were going to passed to the Imperial War Museum. Last year my daughter made an effort to track them down and a few months ago she tracked them down with the author who still has them. He is out of the country at the moment and they are in storage. He has agreed that we can have them back. When we do I shall attempt to transcribe them (9 hard back exercise books) and then we intend to give them to the Military Museum in Warwick. I am sure he mentions playing football with the Germans!

Yes I mentioned the football match in my old post. This was a well known story before the war ended. My father brought home a German army issue belt, that he wore almost every day until he died. There is a great book called 'Drawing fire' by Len Smith, an Illustrator and sketch artist, a soldier who came through the Great War in the trenches. 'Lawrence of Arabia', WWI soldier in the desert. 'Too close to the sun' by Denys Finch Hatton, WWI soldier in East Africa (inspiration for Forester's 'African Queen'). 'Witness to War' by Richard Aldrich that I have also, diaries of WWII.

Dreamtime. The old vineyards and cotton fields a little south of you right down to Albany (250m) is very well known, as were the whaling ships of Albany, but in the days of Oct 1914 in the beautiful bay of clear blue water,with blue sky above, lay almost 40 great ships. Within the next few days these ships were loaded with 30,000 diggers (soldiers) and the fleet set out for Europe. Few of them had seen Europe or had little idea what lay ahead. Gallipoli - in April the following year they landed at Turkey's cove called Anzac koyu (a strange coincidence, Australia, New Zealand army corps). Within a few months seven and half thousand were killed, and twice that number wounded. After the war it was little known, only a few people went to pay their respects, and Albany did little to mark the commemoration, apart from a march past in Australian towns, until 2000 time. Now I understand they have rectified this with great museums and cenotaphs etc. both in Turkey and Albany.

Thanks for the info Kaga Yes, many fly to Anzac Cove to remember their families long gone, even the grandchildren, so they will never be forgotten. I love the thought of their grandchildren being proud to wear their medals.

Hi all. Heard Vince Hammersley from the Coventry Society talking on BBC C&W radio (The Vic Minett Show) this morning talking about a new website that he has made that has a database of soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War, searchable by their address/abode in Coventry. The individuals are listed by Coventry street/road on which they lived. The website is Hero In My Street. No doubt the database took a lot of time & effort to compile. Thanks to Vince & Coventry Society for creating this new resource

Why does everyone judge the First World War as only of the dead? I tried to find my father's regiment or corps - "Sorry, can't help you unless he was killed, then we could trace him". We are all familiar with the story of the football games in 'No-Mans Land', but not all along the line was happy. The 'Shiny' 7th City of London Battalion (Infantry) at Xmas 1915 were doing a spell in the front line, not really trenches but a number of shell holes near Carency. The enemy only 30 yards distant, a real spirit of truce existed, snowballs thrown at each other, a Tommy played a mouth-organ, singing and dancing etc. but at its height, an unhappy incident. A Brigadier General made an unexpected tour, and was overwhelmed with fury, and before the Jerrys understood, the Tommys were ordered to fire - a mean trick. Hell's fury poured over, and made things hot for hours.

What was your father's Christian name, Kaga. I can have a look on Ancestry for you. Any other information?

Hello Kaga, I think your father was in the Labor Corps. I have sent you some files/images. Heathite.

Annewiggy, Heathite Thank you for your kind offers, but I led you astray a little. The time I was searching was back in the fifties, but it didn't matter, I went and travelled along the route anyway, stopping at every name my father mentioned. This was in the fifties before tourism spoilt the battlefields with their car parks etc. I now have all my family tree and history. Yes, he was Pioneer Corps, he could neither read nor write in those days, but he sure knew how to erect barbed wire in 'no mans land'. But most of all it did not stop him from being a great 'dad' and a great person.

My father said he met and shook the hand of a man who was known to every soldier in the British Army, he told me the name, About two months ago I was browsing in an old second hand bookshop in Newhaven, and lo and behold I saw the name, purchased the book for fifty pence. He was a small village preacher before the war in Worcestershire, He became an Army Padre, visited the troops at the front, took them all cartons of cigarettes, that they named him Woodbine Willie, and all the troops knew him.

Ah, now I wondered where the name Woodbine Willie came from, Kaga. As kids we would see a discarded Woodies packet on the ground, tread on it and shout 'Willie Willie Woodbine brings good luck', and I actually believed in it.