It’s not uncommon to come across different accounts of the same event and in “Visiting the Fallen” there are several such instances. Sometimes it’s a case of an event viewed from a different perspective, sometimes different people have only partial information rather than the whole story; occasionally rumour becomes shaped as fact, at other times there is even what we might call selective […]
Author Archive | Peter Hughes
“One more burial at HAC Cemetery” – Arras Memorials – Page 73
Friday the 11th September this year was a gloriously sunny day, at least it was in Arras. I happened to be over there for three days leading a group around the 1915 battlefields of northern France, and ahead of joining everyone for breakfast I popped out to grab a copy of the “Voix du Nord”, the regional daily newspaper, and an early morning coffee. On page 15 the […]
Appendix – Arras Memorials – Page 248
Having just received my copies of ‘Arras Memorials’ from the publisher, I would like to draw attention to the appendix at the end of the book. Although the reference to aircraft identification number 59 (the remaining digits are not fully discernible from the photograph in the book) states that there are three possible candidates, there are in fact just two, […]
“Rediscovering the Fallen” – Arras North – Page 89
Between the publication of ‘Arras South’ and the final edit of ‘Arras Memorials’ I had a little time to re-read an old favourite of mine: “War Letters to a Wife” by Lieutenant-Colonel Rowland Fielding, which I refer to on page 140 of ‘Arras South’ in connection with Croisilles Railway Cemetery. So frequent are the letters that they really amount to a diary […]
“A final word on George” – Arras North – Page 40
On the 2nd November this year I received a short e-mail from the CWGC informing me that the ‘MM’ had finally been added to the headstone of Lance-Corporal George Frederick BAKER, 1st South African Regiment. Readers may remember that BAKER had been involved in the dramatic rescue of an officer under murderous fire and had been awarded the […]
“Oh, What a Lovely War” – Arras Memorials – Page 76
Being a Grammar School lad myself I was drawn to the two part series, “Grammar Schools – A Secret History”, which was broadcast in July this year on BBC4. One of those talking about his experiences was Charles Chilton, broadcaster, writer and producer, who worked for the BBC for 46 years and who in due course was awarded the […]
“An Expedition to Amiens” – Arras South – Page 137
Second Lieutenant Thomas Rathesay CONNING, MC, who was killed in action on the 27th May 1917 serving with the 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was one of several of the battalion’s officers who spent an evening of recreation in Amiens while the unit was still on the Somme. Part of that excursion involved a decent bath followed by dinner at the Restaurant Godbert. One of the […]
“Another veteran of the Messina earthquake” – Arras South – Page 239
Italy is no stranger to earthquakes, but the first time I became aware of the Messina quake, which struck at around 5.20 a.m. on the 28th December 1908, was while researching Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery. The entry in the CWGC register for Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Arnold LLOYD-JONES, DSO, Royal Army Medical Corps, notes that he held the Italian […]
“Going overdrawn – one man’s account” – Arras South – Page 274
One of the many interesting characters in ‘Arras South’ is Company Serjeant-Major Frederick William WATSON, 5th King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), who fell in action on the 27th August 1918. The CWGC register for Gomiecourt South Cemetery shows a bar to his Distinguished Conduct Medal, in addition to the Military Cross, despite the fact that nobody to date seems to […]
Some issues regarding the Military Cross – Arras South
One of the decisions I had to make when writing all three “Visiting the Fallen” titles was whether to include awards and citations of the Military Cross. My first thoughts were that it would prove too time consuming and that I should only include those recipients to whom one or more bars were awarded. It was only about two years into the […]