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Remembered Today:

Just back from the Somme


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Returned to England from the Somme yesterday after my first ever visit to the area. I mentioned in a previous post that I was organising a visit for my father-in-law and his wife (both in their seventies), my wife and her brother and his wife and their two young sons (10 and 8). I offer this account as help to anyone planning a similar trip for the first time.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the two days or so and felt glad that they had made the effort. The experience was very rewarding. I have to thank the 'Pals' for their suggestions and advice and also to many other 'Pals' who have helped me with the research I have done over the past year or so. The visit was intended as the culmination of the decison I made to 'find out' about Tom and Ted, my father's two elder bothers, who were KIA on the Somme in 1916. It later emerged that my wife's great uncle Ernest had also died at about the same time not far away.

Despite the wet weather on Saturday and Sunday (10th and 11th July) we were able to visit all the locations I planned. Our first visit was to the Thiepval memorial. The visitor centre was partially open and work was in progress. We found the three names (T F Hooper, E E Hooper and EA Hayward) we were looking for very quickly. We got the two boys involved in doing this.

Next we went to Beaumont Hamel (Newfoundland Park). This turned out to be a really good choice for a number of reasons. My wife's stepmother has Canadian connections (it turns out that her father was part Canadian and probably fought with the CEF on the Somme). Whilst she and my father-in-law and my wife talked to the guides at the centre ( the weather was looking ominous) the rest of us walked the battlefield. My two nephews were intrigued by it all and were asking lots of questions. "Why did all these soldiers have to die?" "What was the point of all this fighting?" Our answers took a long time to explain!!! The memorial park enables you to get an immediate feel for the terrain and some grasp of what it was the soldiers faced from July 1st 1916. A guide map is essential.

Our next port of call was the Lochnager Crater. It was very slippery with all the rain and so was only suitable for the fully mobile. The Poppies at the bottom were still in evidence - it was a moving sight.

We moved on to Arras to our hotel and then had a family meal at a restaurant close to the the Place d'Ipswich. Sue and I live close to Ipswich UK and Arras is the twin town of Ipswich.

The next day (Sunday 11th July) we spent the morning visiting the sites of the battles where my two uncles and my wife's great uncle died. The first of these was Bayonet Trench close to Flers/Guedecourt, where T F Hooper was KIA on 7th October 1916. We stopped at the AIF Grass Lane Burial Ground - it is very possible that he is buried there although his grave is unknown. There are many unknown Royal Fusiliers there. We met an Australian couple who had come from Melbourne - I forget to ask whether they were 'Pals' (Hi! if you read this). After a visit to the Guedecourt Caribou memorial we moved on to Leuze Wood and the Dickens memorial. E A Hayward (a Ranger) was KIA on the same day as Dickens as part of the same action. We were able to visualise what may have happened (Combles - Paul Reed was a great help here). Finally we went on to Guillemont where E E Hooper (9th East Surreys) was KIA on 16 August 1916. We stopped at Guillemont Road Cemetery and looked at the graves of the three named East Surreys who died on the same day. Could Ted occupy one of the unknown graves here? We will never know. We then took a short walk back towards Guillemont and turned right onto the track that may have been the location of the action (an attack on a strong point) in which Ted is presumed to have been killed.

We then went to Albert to visit the museum. This was simply brilliant and my two nephews were in their element. We also caught up with the Australian couple here. Lunch beckoned after this - McDonalds I'm afraid. My brother-in-law and family had to leave to catch the Eurotunnel home. The remainder stayed and visited Carnoy Cemetery to see the East Surrey's buried there (one of them had written to my grandmother in March 1916). We then went down to the Somme at Cappy and enjoyed some time by the river.

We did a quick morning tour of Arras before leaving to catch the mid afternoon Eurotunnel service.

I was very pleased with the reaction from everyone: my father-in-law spoke of being overwhelmed, my wife's stepmother spoke of how well our boys (dead soldiers) had been looked after, my wife said how much my research had contributed to the visit and could not have been done without it (I think I've now been forgiven for spending so much time on the Internet!), my brother-in-law and his wife felt that they had learnt a lot and my two nephews (both of whom behaved properly at every site) said the Albert museum was "cool".

What have I learned?

1) A visit to a battlefield site like Beaumont Hamel is a very good place to start. For young children and adults, for that matter, it gives them an understanding of what it is they need to respect in the memorials and cemeteries they might see later.

2) Do as much research as possible before and carry with you all the documentation, maps etc.

3) Be aware that the sites can be difficult for the less mobile.

4) Don't try to do too much in one day.

5) The Somme is a very lovely place to visit in its own right.

6) This visit is not the culmination of my desire to find out about my uncles' fates on the Somme. It was merely a stepping stone. We will go again.

Ray Hooper

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Thanks Ray,

That was an excellent posting. I have not covered a great deal in that area and do look forward to expanding my knowledge in the future of this.

Regards

Ryan

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Really nice, and interesting post - and glad you found Combles of some use.

I hope it is the first of many visits to the Somme.

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Ray and gang,

I am so pleased you all enjoyed the trip, especially the boys (another generation to continue 'Remembering').

Once bitten with the bug you never get over it.

Maybe we will see you over there sometime.

Mandy

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