My Father has not long ago found pictures that he thought he had lost many years ago, amongst them one of his mom and this one of his dad.
He joined the South Staffordshire Regiment and like a good many boys lied about his age in order to go and fight in France.
He served as a Lewis Gunner 2nd Batt 2nd Div from Nov 1914 till the end of the war, and took part in several actions, including Loos, and in the battle for Delville Wood on the Somme.
After the war he went back to being a shepherd, and won notoriety for punching the lights out of cane happy headmasters
At the outbreak of WW2 he immediately attempted to re-enlist but was turned down because of his age, so he instead joined the Local Defence Volunteers, precursor to the Home Guard and served till wars end.
I remember very little of him and my father says that he spoke rarely about his experiences. He did mention that my grandad was once ordered to clear his weapon by firing it into the side of a trench, the round ricocheted and took the knee-cap of the guy next to him, later he received a letter from the injured man thanking him for the blighty and sent my grandad some cake and cigarettes!
Hard to believe that when this picture was taken he was not yet 17 years old. Just a different breed
