96 years ago this sunday.1st july 1916.

mancityvstoke said:
I lost a relative aged 27 in 1917 Flanders Field. Killed in action.

Wrong date but sad at his age.

"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."
Click to expand...
Stirring stuff that.
 
I've been to ypres, the menin gate and the military grave yards around there and seen various battle sites in the area with the preserved trenches and houses still full of bullet holes. i've seen lakes that were created from the shells and our guide was saying hills roughly the size of werneth low were totally flattened. it was an extremely harrowing trip tbh. I did an 80 mile march around belgium and often when passing through farms in the middle of nowhere you'd see stacks of old shells we saw the odd rusted artillery piece as well.
 
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://the3barrs.net/tng/photos/THIEPVAL%2520MEMORIAL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://the3barrs.net/tng/showmedia.php?mediaID%3D40%26all%3D1&h=1427&w=2082&sz=426&tbnid=3n9BnkN8ml5HwM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=131&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dthiepval%2Bmonument%2Bnames%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=thiepval+monument+names&usg=__26Cs3x9N2Hdi2xrrJYf29R_7eGM=&docid=LKkyIJazDWyEVM&sa=X&ei=CwPuT6LRGqeb0QW5i_DbDQ&ved=0CHcQ9QEwCA&dur=203" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CA&dur=203</a>


But the saddest monument is at Vimy Ridge IMO

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasmic/1456619939/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasmic/1456619939/</a>

The Virgin Mary holding the Maple leaf.
 
My grandad joined the "Oldham pals" at 16. He lied about his age, like a lot of others and the recruiters turned a blind eye. He survived and came out a sergeant. When we used to ask him how he made sergeant he'd reply - by not dying.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OjxMQHYo3U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tv5gBa9DQs[/youtube]

He also used to tell us never to go to war. He'd did it so we didn't have to.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
To put it into context, a death in Afghanistan of a British soldier makes headline news.

On the first day at the Somme, 60,000 British soldiers were killed, the most ever.

And went on to lose something like 420,000 in total.

Sure we lost plenty during that time.

R.I.P
Click to expand...

The usual figure quoted is 20,000.

Some historians claim that the battle of Towton in 1461, with an estimated 28,000 English soldiers killed, was the worst day in history to be an English soldier.
 
Gary James said:
Yep. We did.

From top of my head Tom Farrell - he'd only appeared in a few games for us (check out the stats on the new history page).

I'll have a quick look at my notes.

-- Fri Jun 29, 2012 11:23 am --

Just checked....

A player called Pat McQuire died in October 1916 from injuries on the front line - don't know if he died on the day he was injured or months earlier.

Jack Yuill died in action on 9th July 1916. Not certain of the circumstances.

Of course other players (most notably Turnbull and Conlin) died on other dates in WW1.
Click to expand...


military history is a particular interest of mine and i have references that give more details.

11710 lance sgt. jack george yuill of the 19th battalion manchester regiment was killed in action on the somme (but not the first day) on 9/7/1916. he has no known grave and is commemorated on the thiepval memorial to those men who fell on the somme and whose bodies were never found and/or identified. he was born in willesden, enlisted in manchester and lived in sale. his parents were george hall yuill and helen yuill of 'heathfield', 8 wardle road, sale.

there were 21 thomas farrells who died while serving in the army in the first world war including one in the lancashire fusiliers killed on the first day of the somme. there is no-ne called mcquire listed as died in the first world war. gary, if you have any further details on these men i'll have another dig to narrow down farrell and maybe check an alternative spelling to mcquire.
 
Not a City player but a hero anyway: My mates Great Uncle played for Exeter City when they went to Brazil and Argentina in 1912 and played in the first ever international. It took them weeks to get down there and then move over country to play their games, he enlisted after WW1 started and lost both his legs over in France.
My own Great Uncle joined The Royal Dublin Fusiliers at 16 in 1915 and was killed in the final battle his regiment fought chasing the Germans down through Belgium . He was so close to returning home . I recenlty spoke to their museum as I wanted to donate his medals to them and they told me most of the lads who returned to Ireland from the regiment after the war, went back to their farms and country villages, then killed themselves in the years following not being able to forget the horrors they had lived through.

R.I.P.
 
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