Death on the Somme 100 years Ago Today : Military Monday

On 16th September 1916 died   my great uncle George Danson, a week after this 22nd birthday. 

Guard's Cemetery, Les Boeufs, near Albert  - George's final resting place.

George, the youngest of eight brothers and one sister  was a stretcher bearer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and killed during the Battle of the Somme.

 

 

Captain MacLeod in writing to George's widowed mother said:    "He was one of my stretcher bearers and was gallantly doing his duty over open and dangerous ground which suddenly became subjected to severe shell fire.  He continued steadily bearing his burden and was only stopped by the shell that took his life. We mourn his loss and are very proud of him". 

 

A photograph, sent to his mother,  of George's grave.  It conveys in a stark way the reality of war amid the mud and blood that George must have experienced - and contrasts with the pristine white of the more lasting memorials that we recognise today.

Military Monday is one of many daily prompts from Geneabloggers 

to encourage us to record our family history.

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