A First World War Nurse - Lillian Maud Trotter ARRC

  . . . at the start of the First World War Lillian volunteered her services as a trained nurse to the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) and she was one of the party of nine nurses who formed part of the 8th Unit of the BRC that left England on 10th October 1914 for Dinard, a small town on the north coast of Brittany, France as the BRCS answered the call for help from its French sister organisation . . .  . .  .
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England in the Blitz

 . . .  .one night the klaxon sounded the alarm and from the cellar we heard a series of quite large explosions.  Still not in our immediate vicinity but much closer than ever before.  When it was over, my father discovered that the bathroom window had been shattered.  Next day we all went up the Rise to the meadows beyond the houses to find many craters and a bit of tree damage . . .  .
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Symonds at War

. .  . By 1899 when the South African (Boer) War began only two boys were aged under forty.  One of these enlisted, together with three of the next generation of the Symonds family. . .  . .

 . . .  .the conditions in the trenches and the horrors of war are described briefly but vividly . . 'There seem to be dead and wounded Australians everywhere . . I came across so many wounded that I put most of my time in carrying them back to cover' . .  . .
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The Journey of Charles William Gurney

Smethwick in 1891, was a town in the West Midlands on the outskirts of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shropshire.  This is where my g-g uncle Charles william GURNEY (Bill) was born to parents William (son of Henry and Elizabeth) and Rhoda GURNEY (nee HARRIS). . .  . . .  . Bill's military personnel file states he embarked for the UK on 20th June 1916 disembarking 29th June 1916.  After a period of training, his battalion proceeded overseas to France . . .  .