Respite from the Front Line!

[grandarog]

Hello Phil,
               Thanks for your input. Great pics. The group looks as if it was perhaps a competition of some sort as there are quite a few different Cap Badges present as well as EKMR.
           Perhaps Scrim will come in again he is very Knowledgeable about such things.
I have some Photos of the big Parade at Maresfield in my Archive .I will look them out and try and scan them on to here . I also have an original of Dads Colonel Mackeson as seen on the Kent Fallen site.
                                                                     Thanks again Rog.

[forester]

Thanks Rog,

I look forward to seeing the other photos.

I'd wondered if it was a signalling class.

Phil

[atom12]

Enjoyed seeing your great photos Rog, of your Dad and his mates beside the estaminet as well as the super one of him on the horse.

Also interesting to hear some of the 'tales' from your Dad's memory, really interesting stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of your photos. 

Phil - I'd agree the men with the different cap badges are on a Signals course as they have signalling flags.

[grandarog]

Hello Phil and Atom(sorry dont Know your Name),
                              Thanks ,I realised they were signal flags didn,t think it was a course as doesnt seem to have an instructor or chalkboard thats why I thought Competition. Have put another pic on here (I Hope) of Dad with the feed bags at Maresfield picket lines on normal daily routine. I have some more stashed away somewhere to find and scan into fileswhen I get time .Am trying to find the picture of the big parade at Maresfield to put on here for Phil.
     As for dads reminices I am talking 30 years ago now he died at 90 in 1986. They were mostly gory bits to keep the grandchildren interested.Like collecting bits of your mates into sandbags on nomans lad at night and having to drop face down in the mud when jerry put up a star shell. Also of having to pile up bodies on the fire steps to keep the trench footway clear. That was when he went back the second time .not when he was in his Lewis gun pit before he was badly wounded.   I remember once he did say if you were killed by a rifle bullet it was unusual as jerry rifle ammo was poor and didnt penetrate far, it was the machine guns and shell shrapnel that got you.
                                                            I am sure there are far more tales to find in the books on trench warfare.
                                                               Regards Rog
                                     

[grandarog]

Heres another of Dad, dont know if taken at Maresfield or at base camp in Kent near Canterbury.
                                                                                     Rog

[atom12]

Thanks again Rog for stories and photos.

Though doubtless many accounts of trench warfare have been written about, your Dad's oral stories are still very pertinent.  Might be a good idea for you to  jot/note some of them down, incase they get lost in the annals of time. 

Anne

[grandarog]

Hello All,
          Just a bump up ,Hopefully one of you will recognise an ancestor in a photo ,
                                                                                                                Good Luck Rog.

[scrimnet]

Last weekend I was at the Kents Regt mueum in Maidstone...Perhaps you should contact them??

We did a display on the 18th Div of whom the RWKs were a unit...

http://www.museum.maidstone.gov.uk/pages/index.asp?area=140


Sorry I haven't been around lately...Been a bit busy!


As for your dads stories....60% of the casualties in WW1 came from artillery fire

[grandarog]

Hello All,
            Firstly thanks Scrim, I have been to the museum several times and had chats with the custodians. Hope you had chance for a good look while you were there. Second heres another photo of Waldershare Troop at Maresfield .Phil I still havent relocated the Photos of Col. Mac or the parade  they will come to light soon thats the trouble with putting things somewhere safe ,remembering where.
  Must have been a publicity /propaganda photo for Mums and Dads benefit  to have got the Officers communing with the men at the field kitchen!!! I am sure dad said it was just after they formed the different troops so must have been early on. I am surprised no one else has spotted any rellies on the photos ,perhaps they will on this latest one.
                                        Regards Rog.