Thursday, August 14, 2008

The faces of 14-18

I quite like this little device. Of course, had the slideshow gadget been working properly, I could have put these photos in the right-hand margin. It's not, so I've copied the code into this particular blog entry.



As far as I know, none of these men pictured here have Chailey connections but it's a safe bet to assume that the majority of them served in some capacity during WW1. I have though, started to add slideshows to some of the main pages on the Chailey site, so visitors will be able to see the faces of some of those who served their King and Country. I have quite a large photographic archive and I'll do my best to upload some of this over the coming weeks.

As far as this mini slideshow from another of my collections is concerned, the fresh-faced boy wearing the Lincolnshire Regiment cap badge and displaying his Imperial Service badge on his right breast pocket is Private Donald Banks. He was 16 years old when this photograph was taken and he was badly wounded as a 16 year old, by Lake Zillebeke near Ypres in 1915. He was sent back to England, discharged from the army and joined the British Red Cross where he worked at a hospital in Lincolnshire. Later, when he was old enough, he re-joined the Lincolnshire Regiment and was back in France in time to take part in the March to Victory. I am pleased to say that he lived to a great age and was as bright as a button and with vivid memories when I interviewed him in Essex in the 1980s.

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