Dear Sheila
I have a book here called “Other paths to Glory” written
around a man researching the first world war on the Somme- I am
reading the bit about the 10th Lincolns- the Chums Regiment
formed by Mr Stream – headmaster of the old Grimsby college
“Wintringham Sec” in other words. Daddy was with them
before they went to the front – just going into the Navy in time
to escape the almost annihilation of the whole company at Lochnagar
Crater, a hole a hundred feet deep and 450 feet across where they
blew up the Schwaben Habe strongpoint.
The 10th Lincolns took it – Daddy’s
school pals – (which is as far as they got - !!! I am so
fascinated by the information here I felt I had to tell you all about
it – do you know on the Somme we lost fifty seven
thousand men in a few hours - ! I feel so utterly amazed
that I didn’t know before – the men who came back just
didn’t talk about the horrors – it is only recently that
most of it is coming out – a whole generation of young men wiped
out on both sides, by this time (1916) – all of our Crack
Regiments were more or less wiped out and the (ordinary blokes) formed
the ‘Chums’ of Grimsby, did the fighting and what
wonderful fighters they must have been too – Remember Sheila
Armistice Day at School – standing in front of the little
memorial – the song we sang in church – Mother and the
Aunties all sad and quiet, big red poppies –
“There is an old belief
that from some solemn shore
Beyond that sphere of grief
Dear friends shall meet once more
Serene in changeless prime
Of body and of soul
That creed I fain would
Keep, that hope I’ll ne’er forgoe
Eternal be their sleep
Eternal – Eternal –
If not to waken so!
Beyond that sphere of time and Sin
And fates control
Serene in changeless prime”
We all sang that beautiful thing with great unction – but did
we realise what those men had to do – and go through -?
Imagine Grandma thinking & dreaming nightmares about Uncle Jimmie – never found in all that mud and blood & horror – poor soul – I went through enough when
Roger was under the sea off the Falklands – but that lot went on
for four years until most were killed – for what-
I remember getting a letter from one of the teachers
from School Miss – cant remember her name she was the Chemistry
Mistress – (when John was killed) I had never realised that she
had lost a fiancé ‘out there’ Also Mrs Newbury – she
did too – then married poor ‘Bill@ who was racked with
asthmatic coughing after being Gassed! And we used to be impatient and
laugh when he had to go outside to cough his lungs up! God – we
never realised, total war is terrible.
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