Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 I am just about to renew my passport and it got me thinking that my grandfather never went abroad in his life apart from the Western Front in WW1. The same went for my wife's grandfather. - France & Mespot Is this unique or were other veterans/grandfathers the same? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 I don't know about veterans but I have only ever been abroad to the Western Front Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 I think it is safe to say that this applies to a great deal of the ordinary serving British men. Travel was far less common even within the UK than it is now, many people never venturing beyond their local town. Neither of my parents have ever been abroad even though their children are scattered around the world. Moving off subject slightly, I have a passport issued to a man in late 1914, he travelled to France on business. The passport is stamped " Not valid for the zone of the armies". John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 I think that John is correct; most working people just could not afford to travel and the war provided the only opportunity during their lifetime. My grandfather started in service as a groom, who became mechanized as a chauffeur, gaining one of the very first driving licenses in Northumberland, but he never owned a car himself. Driving a lorry with the ASC on the WF must have been his only experience of 'abroad.' I remember in 1957 I travelled with my him to visit his ASC mate in Porchester, Hants. Just getting across London on the underground was a major challenge for us poor provincials. Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 A forgotten aspect of the outcome of WW1 is the massive extent of travel in the 20s and 30s; when you examine old comrades journals such as The Ypres Times (journal of the Ypres League) you will see that thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of people were visiting the battlefields at this time. 10,000 alone came for the Vimy Memorial in 1936 (from Canada!), and nearly that number for Thiepval in 1932. So I think people would be surprised as just how many of their relatives went out to F/F between the two world wars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 A forgotten aspect of the outcome of WW1 is the massive extent of travel in the 20s and 30s; when you examine old comrades journals such as The Ypres Times (journal of the Ypres League) you will see that thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of people were visiting the battlefields at this time. 10,000 alone came for the Vimy Memorial in 1936 (from Canada!), and nearly that number for Thiepval in 1932. So I think people would be surprised as just how many of their relatives went out to F/F between the two world wars. I remember seeing a picture of what I think was Newfoundland Park in the 1920's with tourists holding old helmets etc. does anyone know anything more about this ??? Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 Could be Conor - the park was full of objects right up until the mid-1980s. When I first went there, there were bangalore topredoes, livens bombs and Toffee Apples still lying around the German positions, as well as mess tins and water bottles here and there. It all disappeared in the late 80s; taken by British visitors, the warden of the park told me. What is left is now in one shell hole - wired off - close to the main entrance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 Pity they didn't put together a visitor center earlier I am sure there were some interesting items there as a matter of interest when did the First World War battlefields become popular to visit ? Somebody told me that on his first visit there wasn't many people there visiting the old battlefields. Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 My grandfather, George Bradbury, had never been abroad before he went to the Western Front. After the war his idea of a holiday was to goto Greenford from his home in Southall (only a few miles apart in Middlesex!). He said that he never wanted to go abroad for a holiday as the last time he did that someone blew him up and that it hurt! My great grandfather, Samuel Farmer, had already gone to Canada before the war. He returned with the CEF and, after he was discharged, he stayed in the UK. My great, great, great grandfather served in the Crimea. I suppose my other relatives only went abroad to serve on the Western Front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 Being familiar with the German side, I remember reading a letter from a soldier in which he exuberantly talks about his first visit ever to the sea, in this case the North Sea. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lesley Posted 16 March , 2003 Share Posted 16 March , 2003 For volunteers local to us much of the attraction of joining up to go to war was the chance of traveling abroad and seeing sights they would never have seen. Not sure if the sights they saw were the ones they bargained for though! Without the war most would never have left their villages let alone gone to France, Italy etc. The forces continue to provide this opportunity. If my dad hadn't served with the Army Service Corp he would never have travelled to Malaya, Singapore and other places in the fer east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 17 March , 2003 Share Posted 17 March , 2003 Many of those who enlisted in the Australian forces had never been overseas(the tyranny of distance) and so the war offered many a chance to explore other parts of the world on what was a good salary. Regards Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughton Posted 5 April , 2003 Share Posted 5 April , 2003 Another amazing benefit of this web site and forum. I have received many e-mail's from people that visited my web site asking for information about the "Vimy Pilgrimage", and for months I had no idea what they were talking about. As a result of the many postings on this site I was able to learn more about this fantastic pilgrimage and what it meant to all of the 2nd generation (I am the 3rd generation). Does anyone know of where I can send people who want to know more about this event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph J. Whitehead Posted 5 April , 2003 Share Posted 5 April , 2003 My grandfather had already 'seen the world', he was in the 15th U.S. Infantry in China from 1914-1917 then spent the war at Camp Mills. My wife's great uncle Otto made his first and last trip overseas to France. He was killed in July 1918 at the Ourq River. My great uncle made his first and last trip overseas when he fought in France in 1917-1918, he made it home in one piece. Several other relatives made only one trip away from home and that was in the war. it seems we travel far more than they ever did. Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broznitsky Posted 5 April , 2003 Share Posted 5 April , 2003 My 17 year old grandad travelled from Russia to Montreal, Canada in 1912, partly to escape conscription into the Tsar's army. Then in 1915 he enlisted in the CEF and travelled to England and France. In 1919 back to Canada, and I don't believe he ever left after that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivor Lee Posted 5 April , 2003 Share Posted 5 April , 2003 Ian Back in the 1960s, as a teenager, I was closely connected with many WW1 veterans who lived in a Royal British Legion home at Cromer, Norfolk. I vividly remember one man who, until he enlisted, had never had been further than Norwich, about 20 miles from his home and then only a couple of times in his life. What a shock it must have been for this man who was to end up serving in both the Middle East and on the Western Front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garde Grenadier Posted 23 April , 2003 Share Posted 23 April , 2003 For the ordinary chap from Germany WWI it usually was the very first time to get out of confined villages and towns. They considered war as a "great adventure" - but only till their dreams of greater freedom and a larger horizon were shattered by the machinery of death. I've talked to lots of people who served in WWI or even went to both wars - it usually was their first and often their only time to go abroad. Travel on a larger scale for ordinary only started from the 1950s on. Battlefield-"tourism" was not as common at all as with the allied side. Lack of money and of knowledge of languages certainly did not help. Then of course it always was easier to celebrate "victory" and go to places of won battles. Hopefully we'll learn one day that in war only the grim reaper is the real winner. Best wishes Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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