February 22, 1917 to February 22, 2017: Rest in Peace, dear William.

100 years ago on February 22, 1917,

my great uncle, William Joseph Williams

gave his life in WWI, age 24, in Salonika, Greece. 

He fell in a skirmish against the Germans, and was

hit at close range in one of his legs. The newspaper clipping below gives a good description. His leg had to be amputated, and William didn't survive.

William was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog,
North Wales in 1893. I haven't yet sent away for his birth certificate, so I don't know the date of birth.

He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Wrexham, Wales and on Sept 5, 1915 was sent to France.

I only have 2 photos of William, so I did a bit of photo-shopping and added William's head to this lovely Royal Welsh Fusiliers head shot of another soldier!

I had thought maybe this year, 2017, I would visit William's grave but I don't feel like that part of the world is safe at the moment.

William was part of the Machine Gun Corps during the last few months of his life.

The above clipping states William passed away 

"on the 6th day at the Casualty Clearing Hospital", so this means he would have been injured on Feb 17, which was his older brother's birthday.
(my Grandpa John Griffith Williams)
It also states that Miss Ellen Roberts, William's aunt, was the only person that the sender of the news had an address for, although the person knew that
"your nephew used to write to his girl very faithfully".

The clipping is cut off at this point. I'd love to know who wrote the letter, but I haven't yet been able to find it online. That sentence makes me cry every time I read it.

The above is the UK army register of Soldier's Effects, for William Williams. His brother is the one who received them, Robert David Williams, who was on the HMS Violet. 

Henry Hargreaves (should have initial C not E) was the chaplain and wrote this lovely letter.

I recently was given a link to the Welsh newspapers online which shows the above, "Williams, 14842,

W. (Blaenau Festiniog)" under
DIED OF WOUNDS.

No wonder I couldn't locate an obituary without any help! This was found in The North Wales Chronicle.

And this is where William is buried.
His plot is in section D, #828.

I'm so thankful I purchased the photo of his

grave, from the War Graves Photographic

Project online.

William's medal index card, showing his enlistment and his date of death.

I created a collage for my Facebook page, to remember great uncle William.

I've done my best to learn all I could about you, dear William. One day I hope to meet you in Heaven.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

May 31, 1916.....100 years ago: The Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland happened 100 years ago on this day.

6,097 British lives were lost. Over 2,000 Germans died.

I had never given much thought to this battle until I recently discovered that an ancestor perished on board one of those ships. I've blogged about Alfred George Palmer before, so I won't repeat all the details here. Please CLICK HERE to read that story.

If I ever return to England I'll try to look up this memorial.

I think it would be thrilling to visit it and pay my respects.

I found a battle fleet chart online, and you can see the Broke ship in the 4th Flotilla:

Here is a LIST of men killed on board HMS Broke.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Every man remembered

A really lovely memorial website to remember the fallen soldiers in WWI:

Every Man Remembered

Tonight I remembered my first cousin 2xs removed, Alfred George Palmer.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Every man remembered...

I found a lovely website:

Every man remembered

If you click on the link, it should take you to a lovely video.

I found this link in a book I'm currently reading by Nathan Dylan Goodwin.

"The Orange Lilies" A Genealogical Crime Mystery

It's very well written.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Alfred George Palmer, cousin to my grandma, Alma May Palmer.

(photo kindly provided by Angie Hodges on Nov 16, 2015)

On November 13, 2015, while searching on UK Ancestry where I'm currently a member, I discovered Alfred George Palmer. Alfred is my 1st cousin, 2xs removed. He was the son of Henry George Palmer, brother of my great grandpa, Herbert Henry Palmer. They were the sons of George Palmer my great great grandpa.

Alfred died at age 21 on May 31, 1916 in the Battle of Jutland.

The above shows the list of ships Alfred worked on.

HMS Broke where Alfred died.

I had a great time searching online for any information I could find.

This image is from Panel 3 in Stoke sub Hamdon, England, on top of Ham Hill, at the memorial built to remember the men who died in WWI.
Here is the LINK to the website.

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The above shows Alfred's name on the right hand side.

By entering Alfred's name and date of death into the Google search engine, I discovered a wonderful website:

Stoke sub Hamdon

It contains a letter sent to Alfred's family with details of his death.

The site is written by Angie Hodges, and after an inquiry sent to her on the weekend, she kindly replied today and sent me the photo at the top of this post.

Although it's a blurred image I'm thrilled to have it, as I have no other image of Alfred.

Isn't it amazing what happens if you begin to research into your family tree?

You never know where you will wind up.

March 30, 2016  I added Alfred Palmer's details to "Lives of the First World War" website today.

The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland is this year, 2016.

By Loretta Williams Houben