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World War One / Re: Age for service abroad.
« on: Saturday 10 May 14 17:58 BST (UK) »
Purely out of interest......my maternal great grandfather, a Sherwood Forester, was 39 years old when he volunteered in 1914. He was 'too old' at the time but lied about his age. He was in the first Battle at Ypres and got shot up in his left arm and was subsequently medically discharged. My paternal Grandfather, was just 18 when he subsequently volunteered in 1914, was a machine gunner (trained at Belton Camp in my home town of Grantham ) and went overseas too. I believe that the powers that be turned a blind eye to their age discretions. Once conscription came in in 1916, they relaxed the rules on age, increasing it to mid 40s and allowing much younger lads to enlist. Our boys were so patriotic initially, many thought it would be over quickly. My Grandfather went through the whole lot and survived until the 1970s. However, he did suffer the effects of the mustard gas which may have contributed to his later ill health. The only time he spoke about the war was to my dad, when he joined up for National Service. During that one time conversation he told my dad that when he was firing the vickers machine gun across the trenches, he asked his superior if he could 'shoot at the Gerrys' from the knees down as he was feeling really sick of all the body parts flying all over the place' he was subsequently given a stiff telling off! The hell they must have gone through. I am so proud of both of them.