Theme for the A-Z Challenge 2023
Family Traits, Quirks and Characteristics
V for VALIANT
A tribute to my VALIANT ancestors who served their country in times of war.
FIRST WORLD WAR
Five Danson Brothers - John, William (my grandfather), Tom, Frank and George, sons of James Danson (1852-1906)
and Maria Rawcliffe (1859-1919) of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.
John.
aged 38 died whilst in army training; William was awarded the
Military Medal for bravery in action; I have found nothing on Tom's
role; Frank was wounded and hospitalized in Malta, but recovered; and
youngest son, George (left) was killed on the Somme 16th September 1916 aged
just 22.
My paternal great uncle Arthur Liam Matthews (1880-1915), second
son of ten children born to John Matthews and Matilda Such of Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands. He was
killed at Gallipoli, aged 35 with his name recorded on the Helles
Monument in Turnkey and in memorials back home. He left a widow and
two young children.
My husband's great uncle Frederick Donaldson,
served in the Durham Light Infantry and was killed on the Somme - on
the very same day as my great uncle George Danson above. He is
remembered on the Thiepval Monument in France - the-largestBritish battle memorial in the world. On Portland stone, piers
are engraved the names of over 72,000 men who who have no known grave
and who were lost in the Somme battles between July 1916 and March
1918.
- Thiepval Memorial - Image courtesy of Pixabay.
My husband's father - John Donaldson of South Shields,
Co. Durham (1908-1983) joined the RAF and was undergoing aircrew
training, when he suffered a broken neck, He was invalided out , but
recovered from his injury and later served in the Home Guard.
My husband’s Uncle Matthew Iley White - Mattie (1915-1978) of South Shields, Co.Durham, a regular serving soldier.
Mattie's Service Book
My father John Percy Weston (1912-2003) served in the RAF, working in codes and ciphers. He was attached to the American forces, who landed on Omaha
beach in 1944 and progressed through France, Luxembourg into Germany
and later served in Burma. He wrote down his war memories for me - a precious document to have.
My uncle Eric Charles Weston (1915-1999) - a Japanese POW
My uncle Harry Danson (1912-2001) - one of the many men rescued in 1941 off Dunkirk by the flotilla of small ships, arriving home in the uniform in which he had entered he water. He later served in Africa and Italy. Harry never talked about his wartime experiences but seeing documentaries or commemorations on TV could bring tears to his eyes, with memories of what he had witnessed.
My uncle Billy Danson (William Leslie Danson), born
in 1915 and named after his father, was the youngest son of William
Danson and Alice English of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. During the war he served in the Royal Navy.
My aunt Peggy (Margaret Olwen Danson) was the youngest daughter of William and
Alice Danson, born after the First World War, so very much the baby of
the family to her much older brothers and sisters.
In
World War Two Peggy served in the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force), with
a note In the family photograph album that she was in a Barrage
Balloon Squadron in Hull, Yorkshire. It was there she met her husband, and shortly after the war, they sailed to make their home in Australia.
Balloon
Barrages were a passive form of defence, designed to force enemy planes
to fly higher and thus bomb much less accurately. They were simply a
bag of lighter-than-air gas attached
to a steel cable anchored to the ground. The balloon could be raised or
lowered to the desired altitude by a winch. The work was not without
its dangers, as the heavy steel cable could at tlmes snap, resulting in
devastating injuries to the operator.
LEST WE FORGET
*****************
Onto W for WELL TRAVELLED
IN CASE YOU MISSED
A for ADVENTUROUS, B for BIGAMOUS, C for CRIMINAL, D for DEVOUT
E for ENTERPRISING & ESTEEMED, F for FEISTY
Definitely a significant family service. I was horrified by the broken neck…so pleased he recovered. Somehow those memorials with the myriad names of lost men are even more sobering than the graves…the numbers are mind-boggling and each represents a family tragedy. Lest we forget.
ReplyDeletePauleen
Https://cassmobfamilyhistory.com
Your family members contributed greatly to the safety of the Empire. Would today's young men and women be as willing as our forbears to join up in such numbers?
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