Private Robert Whiteside RIP 1st October 1918
My grandfather and his brother Robert both served in the Army during what was then called the Great War and is now usually referred to as the First World War.
Fortunately for me, my grandfather came back. His younger brother didn't.
One hundred years ago today Private Robert Whiteside, 18th Battalion the Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed in action at the age of eighteen, just six weeks before the end of the war.
Millions of families have one or more stories like that. All of them a tragic waste of life.
Many of those who died in that war have their names recorded on a war memorial. In this case the town my grandfather came from, a Lancashire town called Darwen just South of Blackburn, suffered so badly that this is the inscription the citizens of the town placed on the memorial to their dead which was put up shortly after the end of the war. This war memorial is in Bold Venture Park, a few minutes' walk from my grandfather's house.
Yes, more than twelve hundred dead from one small town. It really does not bear thinking about. Darwen came off particularly badly but every town and village in Britain bore its' share of pain and loss.
Here is a picture of the memorial itself. A beautiful place yet this memorial commemorates such a vast tragedy.
We lit a candle today in my Great Uncle Robert's memory and have been thinking of how we can mark his life because the sacrifice of all those who gave their lives for this country should never be forgotten.
Rest in Peace
Fortunately for me, my grandfather came back. His younger brother didn't.
One hundred years ago today Private Robert Whiteside, 18th Battalion the Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed in action at the age of eighteen, just six weeks before the end of the war.
Millions of families have one or more stories like that. All of them a tragic waste of life.
Many of those who died in that war have their names recorded on a war memorial. In this case the town my grandfather came from, a Lancashire town called Darwen just South of Blackburn, suffered so badly that this is the inscription the citizens of the town placed on the memorial to their dead which was put up shortly after the end of the war. This war memorial is in Bold Venture Park, a few minutes' walk from my grandfather's house.
Yes, more than twelve hundred dead from one small town. It really does not bear thinking about. Darwen came off particularly badly but every town and village in Britain bore its' share of pain and loss.
Here is a picture of the memorial itself. A beautiful place yet this memorial commemorates such a vast tragedy.
We lit a candle today in my Great Uncle Robert's memory and have been thinking of how we can mark his life because the sacrifice of all those who gave their lives for this country should never be forgotten.
Rest in Peace
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