Tony Davies speaking on 'The Life of a WW1 Sergeant'

It was very fitting that today’s speaker( Tony Davies from Tabley) told us in a most interesting and informative talk (No need for a Lap Top etc.!) about being a soldier in the Great War of 1914-1918.

Fitting, because it was on June 28th 1914, that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, an event which triggered that war.

                Tony was dressed in the uniform of that time and explained in graphic detail the meaning and purpose of each and every part, including such items in the several capacious pockets. He reminded us of the carnage at the Battle of the Somme (where more than a million men on both sides were killed or wounded and of Passchendaele (a prolonged episode of trench warfare involving appalling loses of life).

The 2^nd World War casualties/deaths were only 40% of those in the Great War, where three words summed it all up- Mud, Trenches and Slaughter.

                Fittingly, also because on June 30^th (2 days after Tony’s talk) we will be commemorating the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

Stuart Rhodes