oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
My brother-in-law's Grandad, William Russell was ...
Born 3rd March 1892, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Married to Lillian Farnsworth on 21 September 1914, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Died 21, March 1970, Hyde, Cheshire.
In 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps and served as an Observer Gunner in France.
In early 1918 his aircraft was shot down and he was shot in the forehead and was found apparently dead and moved to a field morgue. But as he lay on a table in the morgue a nurse noticed a slight movement of his hand and he was eventually resuscitated. In the meantime his wife had been informed that he had been killed in action.
We have a family photo showing the aircraft type he flew in, possibly a DH4.
Sometime later in 1918 his wife received a letter stating that he was actually alive and had been brought back to a military hospital in Kent. Eventually he was possibly moved to a temporary military hospital at Lymm in Cheshire where the photo below might have taken.
He is on the left and they are both wearing the blue hospital uniform supplied to wounded servicemen.
In the 'confusion' of wartime his name was put on a WW1 memorial which stands at the junction of Wood St and Victoria Rd Dukinfield as seen on https://www.mlfhs.org.uk/data/war_memorials_images.php?memorial=500
A photo of the memorial and close-up shows his name 3rd down on the right.
He was awarded three general campaign medals (one french) and as the photo below shows the ribbons are rather worn as he apparently wore them many times during annual parades probably looking at his name on the war memorial.
Unfortunately, his service number is not known and his daughter (born late 1919) had made notes of some of the above information, but she is no longer alive. He very rarely spoke about his service. So all we have are two photos, his campaign medals, and his daughter's notes.
Any help with information about his service record would be appreciated but I realise that many service records were lost during a 1940 bombing raid on London and maybe is the reason why we cannot find any information. Possibly the medal record index might have some information.
Born 3rd March 1892, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Married to Lillian Farnsworth on 21 September 1914, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Died 21, March 1970, Hyde, Cheshire.
In 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps and served as an Observer Gunner in France.
In early 1918 his aircraft was shot down and he was shot in the forehead and was found apparently dead and moved to a field morgue. But as he lay on a table in the morgue a nurse noticed a slight movement of his hand and he was eventually resuscitated. In the meantime his wife had been informed that he had been killed in action.
We have a family photo showing the aircraft type he flew in, possibly a DH4.
Sometime later in 1918 his wife received a letter stating that he was actually alive and had been brought back to a military hospital in Kent. Eventually he was possibly moved to a temporary military hospital at Lymm in Cheshire where the photo below might have taken.
He is on the left and they are both wearing the blue hospital uniform supplied to wounded servicemen.
In the 'confusion' of wartime his name was put on a WW1 memorial which stands at the junction of Wood St and Victoria Rd Dukinfield as seen on https://www.mlfhs.org.uk/data/war_memorials_images.php?memorial=500
A photo of the memorial and close-up shows his name 3rd down on the right.
He was awarded three general campaign medals (one french) and as the photo below shows the ribbons are rather worn as he apparently wore them many times during annual parades probably looking at his name on the war memorial.
Unfortunately, his service number is not known and his daughter (born late 1919) had made notes of some of the above information, but she is no longer alive. He very rarely spoke about his service. So all we have are two photos, his campaign medals, and his daughter's notes.
Any help with information about his service record would be appreciated but I realise that many service records were lost during a 1940 bombing raid on London and maybe is the reason why we cannot find any information. Possibly the medal record index might have some information.