Unknown casualties of War.

[Alberta]

My grandfather fought in WW1 in France ,he came home a broken man,gassed and in very delicate health.
My grandmother did her best to get him back to the strong healthy man he had been but he always had nightmares.
He was very unsettled when WW2 was declared and when the bombs began to fall on England he could not take any more ,his health deteriated and
he took his own life by cutting his throat.
There must have been many men who had fought in the trenches of France 1914-1918 who suffered so much in 1939-1945 by having the horrors all brought back to them.

 

[Wendy]

How very sad Alberta we tend to forget the men who returned and many suffered terribly by being gassed and what they saw. I always think of not just the casualties but all the men who fought in that terrible war.

I have been heartened by a contact on this forum who posted asking for help. When I read the story I was quite amazed that someone relatively young would take on such a quest. https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37936&highlight=Clive

 

[thecaptain51]

When we were kids in the 50s, there was an ex soldier who had served in WW1, his name was Mr Parkes, he was married and lived in one of the back houses in Hingeston Street (as it was then ). He had been the sole survivor of a battery of guns and had also been gassed. He could walk for about 30 metres and then had to stop to get his breath.