Shirkers, the lot of them.

[Derek Black]

My interest of WW1 is the people of my home town and their experiences, i have no family connection to the armed forces who served abroad in the great war to the best of my knowledge.

My great grandfathers all stayed in their jobs and continued to have children throughout the war, being in reserved occupations i'd assume?

So I just wondered if anyone else has an interest in the war even though they have no link to it through their family and what piques their interest?

Derek.

[MichaelBully]

Exactly. For some reason I just have no interest in connecting my relatives with the Great War. I remember visiting war memorials on the Western Front and at Edinburgh Castle with my former partner, who started to point out names that shared my surname. It hadn't even occured to me to look.

But when it comes to local men who fell then my interest is readily awakened.

So much piques my interest in the Great War, but family interest isn't one of them.

The only thing I can think of is that my relatives' experiences in World War 2 were so dramatic that they overshadowed whatever happened in the Great War.

Regards

Michael Bully

EDIT Having thought about this , I wouldn't call my relatives 'shirkers' or demean anything that they experienced during the Great War. I simply don't know what impact the Great War had on them

My interest of WW1 is the people of my home town and their experiences, i have no family connection to the armed forces who served abroad in the great war to the best of my knowledge.

My great grandfathers all stayed in their jobs and continued to have children throughout the war, being in reserved occupations i'd assume?

So I just wondered if anyone else has an interest in the war even though they have no link to it through their family and what piques their interest?

Derek.

[DaveBrigg]

Hi Derek

I have since discovered a Gt Grandfather who enlisted, but my first interest was aroused when reading a book of short stories in primary school. One was about the defence of Rourke's Drift but there was also a vivid description of the fighting around brick stacks at Guinchy. (IIRC - it was 35 years ago). The interest was rekindled later when teaching war poetry, and then completing a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition on the Somme canal. One of the participants had a woeful lack of knowledge regarding unexploded ordnance and I believe he is still the only D of E participant to pass the expedition despite throwing a hand grenade at the assessor.

[Derek Black]

The shirkers title was a daft joke, it's just a coincidence really that all four of my g-grandfathers were in the reserved occupations.

Dave, thanks for that, Perhaps WW1 was taught at primary school up til a certain point in the 70's when WW2 became the focus for schools as it became more distant?

I certainly never got any schooling on the great war, I remember standard grade history was all about the dreadnaught arms race then between the wars politics.

I've asked many friends about their family connections to WW1 and all have someone they know to have served, so i now research them!

Derek.