It is a book that has taken me over thirty years to get to print – or to be more exact, the idea for this book started about thirty years ago. At that time, I watched the surviving soldiers from World War One slipping away, taking with them their stories. People argued with me that…
I remember fondly joining Bill Wicks on a tour of The Somme battlefield. Bill had travelled from New Zealand and hoped to better understand what it was that his Grandfather, Sgt Henry James Wicks of the 3rd Battalion New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade, had endured during World War One and the Battle of The Somme, where…
Many of you will know about the most highly decorated soldier of World War One, William Harold Coltman VC, DCM & Bar, MM & Bar. In turn, many have joined me as we have stood at the grave of the most highly decorated officer, Captain Noel Chavasse VC & Bar, MC, near Ypres in Belgium whilst…
If you have not already looked at the start of this Vinter Brothers story then I strongly urge you to do so. Click Here, to fully understand why Derek needed to take this very special battlefield tour It had been a long journey for Derek in terms of time, from finding the Vinter brother’s medals…
The Great War of 1914-18 was fought on a scale never before witnessed with casualties and damage beyond any war previous to it. In military, social and economic terms it was immense, touching almost every single family with millions of people, military and for the first time civilian men and women, involved from Britain and…
Just occasionally something in life comes along that you really want to get your teeth into and offer to help someone. This happened recently following a telephone call from our local radio station, BBC Radio Lincolnshire. I am no stranger to the radio station and often help with World War One stories on the 70th…
The events of the early days of The Battle of The Somme are well recorded. In fact to read many articles & reports you would think The Somme was a defeat for the British and her Commonwealth armies. But this is not the case, it was a victory. All too often a report on the…
The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration for British and former Commonwealth forces awarded for bravery in battle on land with the following requirement – ‘for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire’ The Medal was established on 25th March 1916 but backdated to 1914 with the first award dated 1914. The…
Much has been written about the Christmas Truce of World War One in 1914, some say it never happened as it was not correctly reported – but let us just think about that, as the Commanding Officer of a front line battalion write; today we stopped fighting and had a football match with the enemy,…
Recent research has thrown light on the last soldiers to be killed on 11 November 1918. The research clearly shows that In the closing minutes of World War One, the 11:00 cease-fire within touching distance, a handful of soldiers died. Just after 0500 on the morning of 11 November 1918, officials gathered in a railway…