Thank you for helping me with uploading this and i'm sorry if the photo is completely wrongly sized!! This is rather long but something I've been wanting to share for a while.
This rather rough little photo was found with my Nanas bits and bobs as we cleared her house, never a one for sentiment (or photographs) she never spoke much of her past, after all she was a teenager in the second world war and her father and his family fought in WW1 in France in the Somme and Passchendale. Understandably the war was not discussed; neither were the sacrifices made, the experiences were too horrific and the memories too painful.
On the back of this picture is, barely legible; W.Haworth 191#, Rhyl St. Then in differing writing Died France 1917. My Nana's maiden name was Haworth and that was all we knew!
My genealogy journey had started, this was 2 years ago.
I now know that this 16 year old new recruit was my Nana's uncle Walter Haworth, b.1898. He signed up early for the war effort in 1915. He was young and fit and was employed as a Runner along the British front at Ypres, in the early hours on the 1st August 1917 he was shot in the head by a German sniper aged 19. He was lost to the muds of France and Flanders.
1st August this year 2017 will be 100 years since my great great uncle died for his country, 1.1 million lives were lost and many are still unknown/unclaimed soldiers. My Walter is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, and I plan to visit this summer to pay my respects.
every time I look at this tiny tatty picture it moves me to tears
Thank you for reading and letting me share
Lizzie