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WW1 Casualty Clearing Stations

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  • WW1 Casualty Clearing Stations

    A little bit of information on WW1 Casualty Clearing stations

    https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2021...ns-during-ww1/
    Last edited by Paulc; 09-05-21, 07:55.
    My Family History Blog Site:

    https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

  • #2
    Paul, great post and comprehensive information, thanks.

    Both my step father and uncle would have visited a CCS during their time on the Western front.
    Step father was only on the front line for 20 days before being severely wounded in the right shoulder which incapacitated him for the rest of his life. After being wounded and recovering, over a period of nearly six months he was transferred to base camp and eventually boarded and assessed as being unfit for further service and returned to Australia in early 1918.
    my uncle was gassed twice, wounded three times but survived the lot and eventually returned home in late 1919 with a DCM and an English bride.
    however, these traumas never seemed to affect them (I had many years of their company) and they both had long and useful lives.
    Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

    David

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    • #3
      Thanks grumpy I’m glad that you found it interesting and useful. It sounds like your family had their fair share of trauma and injury and like so many of that generation they just got on with life once they returned home.
      My Family History Blog Site:

      https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Of course, as was usual the family were kept in virtual total darkness about their traumas and exploits experienced during the times in the battle zone. Occasionally the men would gather in a group away from the rest of the family and speak in hushed tones, no doubt about what happened to them whilst overseas. Even my grandfather with who I grew up, rarely let go even about his time in the prewar army (1885-1910) and most of his posting movements I had to discover through his service documents which fortunately survived in their entirety.
        As time goes by and the events of WW1 get further and further away all this is unfortunately, starting to become a dark relic of the past.
        Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

        David

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        • #5
          They kept what they saw very much to themselves and they lived with those horrors and scars all their lives. But that’s what that generation did, no moaning they just got on with it.

          I think it’s vitally important that we still continue to remember and commemorate what they did forevermore to protect our freedom. It’s each generations duty to ensure that their legacy lives on and we remember the sacrifice that millions gave.


          I try at every opportunity to teach and educate my own children and extended family and they have grown up knowing the sacrifices that these men gave.





          My Family History Blog Site:

          https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

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          • #6
            A great blog, Paul, so vividly describing the organisation and conditions of the clearing stations on the Western front. Out in the Middle East, instead of dealing with rain , snow and mud it was the searing heat, sand and rock.

            My grandfather served in RAMC with 40th Field Ambulance from 1915 -1918 at Gallipoli, (both ANSAC Bay and Sulva Cove) , Mesopotamia, Iraq and Egypt. In June 1916 he was shipped on HM Hospital Ship "Assaye" to the hospital in Alexandria for a mastoid operation and then again in the July with dysentery. 4 hellish years away from home dealing with the most horrific injuries.
            He was a very quiet, kindly man who never spoke of the trauma he must have witnessed but he truly hated Churchill for that disastrous campaign - as you say -"They kept what they saw very much to themselves and they lived with those horrors and scars all their lives. But that’s what that generation did, no moaning they just got on with it."

            Grandad Wilkinson seated on the right - Egypt 1918.

            WILKINSON RAY 130th Comb Field Ambulance,Egypt 1918.jpg



            Kat

            My avatar is my mother 1921 - 2012

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            • #7
              Thanks for sharing your Grandfather’s story Katarzyna, how they coped with such hellish conditions is beyond me. I often wonder how today’s generation would cope in similar conditions.

              I agree Gallipoli was truly a disastrous campaign, my great grandfather was in the Essex Regiment and died on the beach on the first day of landings on 25th April 1915.
              My Family History Blog Site:

              https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

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              • #8
                Thanks for this Paul. Very interesting.
                :D Charney Jo

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                • #9
                  Thanks Jo I am glad that you found it interesting.
                  My Family History Blog Site:

                  https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Following on from my earlier blog about Casualty Clearing Stations I have written a new blog detailing the wonderful volunteer project that is run by the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, see the link below


                    WW1 touched the lives of millions of families, both at home and across the Empire, with families suffering irreconcilable grief and loss, many families never fully recovered. So many young men volu…



                    My Family History Blog Site:

                    https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

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