Passchendaele stretcher bearer

[Chris_Baker]

Copied from the site Guest Book, on behalf of Karen May:

Hello there! I wonder if you can be of any help! My parents have been watching many programmes on World War One, a part in which my Grandfather played, as he was a stretcher-bearer out in Passchendaele in the third battle of Ypres? He is one of the stretcher bearers in “that” picture & naturally we have a newspaper cutting that was around in the sixties which is in fair condition – we tied it to that timeline as bits of remaining news surrounded it – but alas it got separated from the original whole newspaper! This led to my parents unearthing the original – which as you can imagine was in a bit of state! This particular picture appears on many websites and unfortunately I cannot seem to unearth anything at all about the other men in the picture – except it was taken in 1917 @ that battle. I know it is a long shot, but is there anywhere I could contact that would tell me more about this particular picture – as it seems odd as it pops up all over the place – and a lack of information ensues. We have my Grandfather’s Active Service Book which verifies this and his name was Ernest Henry May and he served in the Rifle Brigade – his DOB was 31.10.16 and was 38 when he enlisted and his number was 27679 my Dad’s Dad at that time lived with his family at 3 Furbur Street in Hammersmith, West London. Granddad is the 4th from the left. There is also a card in the front side flap of the brown cloth-bound book – it resembles a business card of that age & it says “J. Milns West – 6th Batn. The Rifle Brigade.

I really would love to discover more about this and really would be grateful if you could help!

Karen can be reached at kmay135@henge216.freeserve.co.uk

[brookg3]

Hi Chris, I am very interested in this posting. I have a letter in my possession that was written to my great grandmother from an E.H May service # 27679 informing her of her husbands death (Albert E Brooks). It indicates in the letter that E.H May and Albert were very good friends and that Mr May was also a stretch Bearer in the 8th Btn rfile brigade D company. I have send a note to Karen May, but it would seem the address is incorrect/does not exist. If you have any further information / photo etc I would be certainly interested. Perhaps my great grandfather is in the picture that Karen mentions.

Thank you.

Gary Brooks