I mentioned a few posts back I am tracing my family tree. Stories that I heard mentioned as a child have come to the fore. Stories I heard but never took much notice of at the time and wished I had taken more notice of.
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| William Prentice |
The picture of the gentleman above is my dad's dad. In my research of my family tree he is my 'skeleton in the cupboard'. He also came back from the the war. He came back from WW2. He was at Dunkirk (1940). He swam to the Royal Daffodil, a ferry boat which although had taken a direct hit from a bomb but had saved 8000 troops. He was a Regimental Sergeant Major, and has a medal for Gallantry. I never knew him either, I think I had met him a few times, but I wasn't very old when I had met him. He in died 1972, I was sixteen.
My great-grandfather, George William Greaves, whose medals I show on my 11th November posts
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| The medals were given to every solider who fought in WW1 |
He was a horse driver, he never did anything heroic, he came back, but he came back a broken man. Although he lived till he was eighty years old, I never knew him he died before I was born. I once heard a story that his own children walked on the other side of the road because he was drunk in the gutter. No soldier then talked of what actually went on. No counselling existed then, it was the 'stiff upper lip' and all that.
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George William Greaves' son-in-law was my grandfather Albert Sullivan.
You can read about Albert here
He was in the Home Guard.
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I don't agree with war, I don't like confrontation, but these three men had a job to do, and I am proud of them.
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~ My Skeleton in the Cupboard ~
William Prentice, my grandfather. I couldn't find him anywhere on any genealogical site. It was as if he didn't exist! I sent for his birth certificate. He was born to a servant called Florence in September 1900, I will leave you dear readers to decide as to what may have happened...................
My grandad was born in 1913, he was illegitimate (his mother was pregnant to the son of the house who was subsequently sent away) and carried what was then a great stigma his who life, very sad xx
ReplyDeleteThere are so many sad stories of war, my husband is an avid reader of the true stories that happened and tells me such heart wrenching things.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post looking at you family history.
ReplyDeleteA lovely post I wanted to read more about those wonderful men. Life was very hard back then we don't know how lucky we are now, dee xx
ReplyDeleteMy DH's mum would never talk about her family history. Perhaps there was a skeleton there aswell. You have some interesting stories to tell. Poor horses.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
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A lovely tribute Julie. x
ReplyDeleteWe too, had a skeleton in or cupboard, although I am sure that as you say, it was exacerbated by the lack of counselling and help. Interesting post. M x
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post, Julie. We will never fully understand what those poor soldiers went through. Makes me very thankful of the life we have now xx
ReplyDeleteSo moving Julie. What the men of our families went through is impossible to imagine. So hard that so many of those who did return from WW1 were affected so deeply
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