0:00:03 > 0:00:07This year marks the centenary of the start of the Great War,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09the war to end all wars.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Ten million soldiers and seven million civilians died
0:00:13 > 0:00:17during the four-year conflict, which left physical and emotional scars
0:00:17 > 0:00:19all over Europe and beyond.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21To mark the anniversary, we've brought the Roadshow
0:00:21 > 0:00:24to northern France for two special programmes.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from the Somme Battlefields.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Our base is the town of Albert in northern France,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59once a British stronghold and now
0:00:59 > 0:01:02a place of pilgrimage for those who come to visit the cemeteries,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05the monuments and the landscape that witnessed so much.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10The basilica here isn't the original -
0:01:10 > 0:01:12that was destroyed by heavy shelling,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15which ripped it apart and left it in ruins.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20On top of the dome, a famous sculpture - the Golden Virgin.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23She was a well-known landmark in the area
0:01:23 > 0:01:25and could be seen for miles around.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29But in January 1915, the basilica received such a pounding
0:01:29 > 0:01:32that the Virgin was knocked off the dome and left dangling,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35forlornly and precariously, in the Place d'Armes here.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38The British soldiers said that when she did eventually fall,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40it would signal the end of the war.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42In 1918, the Germans occupied Albert
0:01:42 > 0:01:46and the British soldiers defiantly shot her down themselves.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49But then, just a few months later, the war did end.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51And in time, Albert was rebuilt
0:01:51 > 0:01:53and a new Virgin was placed on top of the dome.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07This is a small object that tells its own story.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09This little crucifix inside the basilica
0:02:09 > 0:02:10has been on quite a journey.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15It was taken from the walls in 1916 by a soldier, Albert Lewis,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18who was taking refuge inside the ruins of the basilica,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21and he kept it with him as a talisman,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23believing it kept him safe throughout the war.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25He eventually took it back to Great Britain -
0:02:25 > 0:02:27first to Basingstoke and then to Cardiff.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30And then, in 2009, it was returned here
0:02:30 > 0:02:33by Albert's great-niece and great-nephew.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Of course, in thousands of British homes
0:02:40 > 0:02:42there are mementos from the Great War -
0:02:42 > 0:02:46letters, postcards from the front line, campaign medals -
0:02:46 > 0:02:49and we've invited a small number of those who contacted us
0:02:49 > 0:02:51here to the Thiepval Memorial,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57a remarkable monument to the 72,000 British soldiers who died here
0:02:57 > 0:02:59but whose bodies were never found.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01And they'll be meeting our specialists -
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Bill Harriman, Hilary Kay,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Paul Atterbury, Graham Lay
0:03:08 > 0:03:09and Martin Pegler -
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and sharing their stories with us in this remarkable landscape.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19I've been doing Antiques Roadshow for more years
0:03:19 > 0:03:21than I really care to remember
0:03:21 > 0:03:23and I can say with absolute certainty
0:03:23 > 0:03:27that not a recording goes by that I don't see at least one
0:03:27 > 0:03:30of these First World War bronze death plaques.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32But I can also say with absolute certainty,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35- I have never seen so many. - You've got a few here
0:03:35 > 0:03:37but at home I've got another 750 in my collection.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Say that again, would you?
0:03:38 > 0:03:40- 750.- 750.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Just under half a ton of bronze.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Blimey! So how long have you been collecting these?
0:03:45 > 0:03:49Since I was 16 and I used to go round all the antiques fairs
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and just buy them up. At the time, they were about £2.50 each
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and I used to buy 10, 20 at a time and just kept amassing them,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57but I slowed down when they got to £7 each.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59I thought £7 was too much.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01And now on internet auction sites,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04they're trading for about £80 average.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Well, they're absolutely iconic of the First World War
0:04:06 > 0:04:10and they were handed out to every family who lost...
0:04:10 > 0:04:12somebody in the war.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the total that was
0:04:15 > 0:04:20given out was 1,355,000.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22- Is that right?- That's about right - that's about bang on.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24And one thing that I've seen you've got here -
0:04:24 > 0:04:27which I absolutely applaud -
0:04:27 > 0:04:30is a photograph of the fallen soldier,
0:04:30 > 0:04:32his medals and his death plaque in a frame.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36That guy was only 19 when he was killed, late in 1918.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I've an empathy with these because I've been in the Army
0:04:39 > 0:04:40since I was 16 and, er...
0:04:40 > 0:04:42I mean, I've not been shelled for seven days,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45like these guys were, and machine-gunned all the time.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47But my particular interest is, I like to research the soldiers.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49If I can find their military record
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and go through to find out what action he was involved in,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56when he got killed, how the Army was working at that time...
0:04:56 > 0:04:58I share your empathy. When I see one of these
0:04:58 > 0:05:00that comes out of a tatty old box
0:05:00 > 0:05:03and nobody really cares about it, I just think it's wrong.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05One that I've never seen -
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and which I've always waited for on the Roadshow,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13and consequently it's a big day - is that one, which is to a woman.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17And that's to Kitty Walcroft - who's she?
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Kitty Walcroft was Queen Mary's Auxiliary Army Corps,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22and she joined the Army in 1918,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25went to France and was a telephonist at Abbeville.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Kitty died of influenza in 1919 on Valentine's Day.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Ah.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33So there are - what - 600 of those to women?
0:05:33 > 0:05:37602 is the low estimate, and it could be as many as 1,500.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40- Really?- But it's pretty much... They're rarer than the VC.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And this one here caught my eye, with this name
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Wilhelm Gottfried von Ahn - that's a good old British name
0:05:46 > 0:05:48- if ever there was one, isn't it?- Yes.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49His father was German,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52his mother was Wilcox - who was English -
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and he enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment
0:05:55 > 0:05:58because at the time, he was classed as being an enemy alien,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and they had the 30th and 31st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment
0:06:01 > 0:06:03and they were known as "the Kaiser's Battalion"
0:06:03 > 0:06:06because they were all German aliens and they worked behind the lines,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09building camps and things like that, so they couldn't see the front line,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12didn't know where the troops were or what they were doing.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13"We'll use them as labourers."
0:06:13 > 0:06:17- Trusted, but not that trusted. - Trusted, but not that trusted.- Yes.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20However, William Gottfried von Ahn could speak fluent French and German
0:06:20 > 0:06:21so he eventually transferred
0:06:21 > 0:06:24from the Middlesex Regiment into the Royal Engineers,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26into the Signals Section, and ended up as a translator.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30And he was captured, ironically, in the Kaiserschlact -
0:06:30 > 0:06:32which is the 1918 Battle in March -
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and ended up as a POW and died as a POW in Germany.
0:06:36 > 0:06:37That's very, very sad.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41These are memorials of dead people.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43There'd be some people who say,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46"Isn't it rather ghoulish that you concentrate your collecting efforts
0:06:46 > 0:06:48"on what is really about death?"
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Some people have said it's a bit morbid but, you know,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55people collect medals of soldiers that have died,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57and this is basically a medal.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59I'm with you on that. I just think it's tremendously respectful.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03And we're talking about the value of these and how accessible they are.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05You were saying sort of about £70, £80.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08About £70, £80, I think, is about the average.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10But I bet Miss Walcroft's plaque isn't...
0:07:10 > 0:07:14I know of 12 female ones being sold since 1999
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and I've averaged the price out over those years,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19and it works out £2,985.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24However, one sold recently with the two medals like that for 9,000.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26So a woman's plaque with the two medals went for 9,000.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29What would you really like to happen to it all?
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Where do you want it to go in the ultimate?
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I think my son, who's behind me somewhere, is saying
0:07:33 > 0:07:36that he's going to carry it on when he's a bit older.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37I'm sure he'll be a fantastic curator.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40It will just have a bigger collection, I think. We shall see.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49All my life I have loved animals, particularly horses,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and that's why I'm really pleased to be looking at these paintings
0:07:52 > 0:07:55of cavalry horses today. But who painted them?
0:07:55 > 0:07:59They were painted by my grandfather, Herbert Arnold Lake,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03who was in the Royal Army Medical Corps,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07and he came out to France at the age of 31 and...
0:08:07 > 0:08:11he was a doctor here in Arras.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14And I think in every spare moment that he had,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18when he wasn't tending the wounded, he painted and he sketched.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22So these paintings could very well have been painted around here -
0:08:22 > 0:08:24not too far from here?
0:08:24 > 0:08:27I'm sure they were. I'm sure they were.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But he must know horses, because I have to say, anatomically,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33these are beautifully painted.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36He was trained as a vet, in London,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and then he decided that, perhaps,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41the veterinary life wasn't going to be so good,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45so he retrained as a doctor and I think that's probably why
0:08:45 > 0:08:48his paintings of his horses are very good,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51because he would have done a lot of research in the first place.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54So looking at this wonderful oil on panel,
0:08:54 > 0:09:01it shows a cavalry troop standing in the icy cold of early morning,
0:09:01 > 0:09:06waiting for the command to advance, to attack.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08This is a beautiful painting.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10And the interesting thing
0:09:10 > 0:09:14is that if you move on from this one to the next painting,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18where clearly you're in the midst of an attack,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20so we almost have a series here.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22And then this painting here...
0:09:24 > 0:09:25..I think shows...
0:09:26 > 0:09:29..the calm after the attack.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Everybody's exhausted.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36Look at this trooper. Look how exhausted he looks.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40The horse is probably just as tired, just as weary.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45And, you know, there were certainly more than eight million horses
0:09:45 > 0:09:48killed and died during the First World War.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52And then this further painting...
0:09:53 > 0:09:56..showing, quite frankly, the result.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02He obviously understood the horrors of war
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and was particularly sensitive to that.
0:10:05 > 0:10:06I agree with you.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08I think they are very moving
0:10:08 > 0:10:13and I think, having come here today and seen what I've seen,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18I find it very emotional now to look at these pictures.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21And, actually, I wonder what he would have felt
0:10:21 > 0:10:26about the pictures that he painted 100 years ago coming back here.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29It must be quite something. I hope he's on his cloud.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34When he came back from the war, he would never discuss what he'd seen
0:10:34 > 0:10:38or what had happened, because they were in the paintings,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42and I think his sketching and his paintings
0:10:42 > 0:10:46probably kept him fairly sane.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Whereas a lot came back from the Great War really traumatised -
0:10:51 > 0:10:54emotionally...wrecks, actually -
0:10:54 > 0:10:56and I think he didn't,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and he went on to have a very full, wonderful life,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and a very positive man, who was great fun.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05But did he continue practising in civilian life?
0:11:05 > 0:11:09- He did indeed, and he was known as "the flying doctor".- Why?
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Because he went to see all of his patients on horseback,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and that was the way he liked it, until the advent of the motorcar,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20when he was absolutely lethal. He was much better on a horse.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- What an old-fashioned gentleman he must have been.- He was.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Well, you know, these are wonderful pictures,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and of course they have a value.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The best one, I think, has to be this oil on board.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36It's exquisite. It's absolutely glorious.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38The problem is, of course, he doesn't have a record
0:11:38 > 0:11:41of selling at auction, and that's the big problem.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45However, this style of painting -
0:11:45 > 0:11:48which is almost reminiscent of Munnings, I have to say -
0:11:48 > 0:11:52is so sought after, I think that painting alone -
0:11:52 > 0:11:54even though we don't know him -
0:11:54 > 0:11:56would be worth £1,000.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00I think the monochrome watercolours would be worth, each,
0:12:00 > 0:12:01£200 or £300.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06And I think that coloured watercolour of Arras,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- just up the road from us...- Yes.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12..would be worth about £500.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14He's a great artist in my opinion.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16You should be very proud of him.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18They are treasures, and thank you very much.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33- HILARY KAY:- The Lusitania, Cunard's great ship,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36crossing the Atlantic in certain style.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38It won the Blue Riband for speed
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and it was really quite a classy boat.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44The terrible thing about the Lusitania
0:12:44 > 0:12:47was that it was torpedoed by a German U-boat,
0:12:47 > 0:12:52- in 1915, with a tremendous loss of life.- Yes.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58- You have a real link to that extraordinary event.- Mm-hm.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Tell me about it.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05Well, if my great-grandparents hadn't survived that wreck,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07I wouldn't be here, my cousin wouldn't be here,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09my grandma wouldn't be here.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13So why were they on the Lusitania?
0:13:13 > 0:13:17They'd emigrated to live in America a few years before
0:13:17 > 0:13:19but they decided they didn't like it - they were homesick -
0:13:19 > 0:13:22so decided to come home, back to Lancashire.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24And they were going on a...
0:13:24 > 0:13:27I think it was a fairly cheap boat originally,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29but they were frightened of the war breaking out
0:13:29 > 0:13:31and they'd heard about the U-boats,
0:13:31 > 0:13:32so they transferred to the Lusitania
0:13:32 > 0:13:35because they'd heard it was the safest ship there was.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Is there an account of that terrible day in May 1915?
0:13:39 > 0:13:43There is. My great-grandfather actually wrote an account of it -
0:13:43 > 0:13:45it's about an eight-page hand-written document,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48which goes into great detail about how he was...
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Because all the women and children were loaded on the lifeboats,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and he was given a lifebelt and was sort of thrown off the side,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56and he swam around for hours and hours and hours,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59and then after - I think it was around six or seven hours -
0:13:59 > 0:14:03he actually came across a lifeboat that was still sailing around,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06picking up survivors and my great-grandma was actually on it...
0:14:06 > 0:14:10HILARY GASPS ..which was just absolutely amazing coincidence,
0:14:10 > 0:14:11and she was six months pregnant
0:14:11 > 0:14:13with her first child at the time, as well.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15- True.- Were you that child?
0:14:15 > 0:14:18No, I'm not that old!
0:14:19 > 0:14:21So that was your elder brother, presumably?
0:14:21 > 0:14:23It was my eldest brother Albert, yes,
0:14:23 > 0:14:28and how she kept that baby I really don't know.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Exactly. But what an extraordinary sort of linking of fate lines.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Because I know that they only managed to launch -
0:14:36 > 0:14:39- I don't know - half a dozen lifeboats...- Hardly any.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41..out of the 40-odd that there were.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42And in my grandfather's account,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44it said that the crew were very inexperienced
0:14:44 > 0:14:47because, obviously, most of the men who would normally man it
0:14:47 > 0:14:48were in the Army,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52so a lot of them snagged and tipped all the people out into the sea,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54so they were really lucky.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57The loss of life was significant
0:14:57 > 0:15:00in that there were all but 2,000 passengers and crew on board,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05- out of which about 1,200 lost their lives.- Yes.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06But I suppose the important thing
0:15:06 > 0:15:08for the history of the First World War
0:15:08 > 0:15:12is that a significant number of those deaths were Americans.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Yes, and that's what brought the Americans into the war.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19- Exactly.- 125 Americans.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22- Lost their lives in the Lusitania sinking?- Yes, yes.
0:15:22 > 0:15:30And that incident, in fact, led to this extraordinary enlistment poster
0:15:30 > 0:15:34and it shows a mother
0:15:34 > 0:15:37drifting down through the water
0:15:37 > 0:15:40and she holds and protects her baby in her arms.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45And there is that one word - "enlist".
0:15:45 > 0:15:47How easy it would have been...
0:15:49 > 0:15:53..for your mother, for Alice, to have been...
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Absolutely, yeah.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Yeah.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58What do you have of hers?
0:15:58 > 0:16:00I've got her wedding ring,
0:16:00 > 0:16:06which she was obviously wearing when the Lusitania was torpedoed,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09so that ring has actually survived a shipwreck.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13It is an extraordinary story.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17It's a story of high emotion,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20it's a story of propaganda
0:16:20 > 0:16:25and it's a story which ultimately vindicates the Germans.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30They said that they fired on this ship
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- because they said that it was carrying munitions.- Mm-hm.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It was a fact that was completely denied for ever...
0:16:39 > 0:16:42- ..until the wreck was recovered... - Yes.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47- ..and in the hold were found over three million rounds.- Mm-hm.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53- But for you, it's a story of survival.- Mm-hm.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55And a very powerful one at that.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57- Thank you very much.- Thank you.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Over 3,000 of you contacted us,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08wanting to tell us of your personal family connection to World War I,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10and sadly we couldn't bring you all to northern France,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12much as we'd have liked to.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14But as we've travelled around the country,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17we've had a chance to catch up with some of you, and hear your story.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Well, this is a tin whistle.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And it's perfectly ordinary, except that it tells a story
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and the story it tells is of Joe.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29And this is Joe, our Joe -
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Joseph Thomas Clucas, a Corporal
0:17:31 > 0:17:35in the Royal Field Artillery, 57th Ammunition Column -
0:17:35 > 0:17:38who joined as a boy soldier, joined the Territorial Army,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40at the age of 14.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46And was enlisted at the start of the war, as many Territorials were,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51was killed at Passchendaele on 21st October 1917.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56But between the start of the war through to 1917, this whistle,
0:17:56 > 0:17:57at some point, saved his life
0:17:57 > 0:18:01because a trace of the bullet that hit it when he was wearing it
0:18:01 > 0:18:03is still in the whistle.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07And while it's worthless, while it means nothing to anybody else,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09to our family it's priceless
0:18:09 > 0:18:12because it tells the story of a time in our history
0:18:12 > 0:18:16when boys like Joe gave everything they had for us,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18and so it's precious to us.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24This is my grandfather's sword
0:18:24 > 0:18:28that was given to him by the Bradford Pals
0:18:28 > 0:18:30in May 1915,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35before they went to fight on the Somme.
0:18:35 > 0:18:3814 months later, they were all killed.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43And he was so appalled at the deaths of all these soldiers he'd trained
0:18:43 > 0:18:48that he joined up and went to fight in France himself.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51He fought at the Battle of Arras
0:18:51 > 0:18:54and survived the war.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57We're very proud that he was so committed, really,
0:18:57 > 0:19:03to ensuring that his soldiers were trained to the best of his ability.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08This is a photograph of my father.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11His name was John Joseph Crowley
0:19:11 > 0:19:12and he served in the Royal Navy
0:19:12 > 0:19:15for about 17 years.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18During the First World War he was on the Vindictive,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22which was used to block the harbour at Zeebrugge,
0:19:22 > 0:19:28and he served in the gun crew and during that occasion,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31they came under an awful lot of fire from the Germans
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and his Commanding Officer was wounded.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36And my father went to help.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38He must have taken his sleeve off
0:19:38 > 0:19:40to make way for the ship's surgeon to treat the wound
0:19:40 > 0:19:44and he was left holding the sleeve and said,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47"Maybe... What can I do with this, Sir?"
0:19:47 > 0:19:49And he said, "Well, just keep it
0:19:49 > 0:19:51"because it will remind you of this day."
0:19:51 > 0:19:56So consequently, my dad acquired this gold braid
0:19:56 > 0:19:59which came from the sleeve of the Lieutenant Commander,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03and he kept it. He kept it all his life and now I have it.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16This little stone cross, made from local stone,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18was found during excavations here in the area.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And it's a piece of what's known as trench art,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24when soldiers in the trenches would fashion little objects
0:20:24 > 0:20:27from whatever they could find to hand.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30It's a very simple and humble little thing
0:20:30 > 0:20:34and Paul Atterbury's been looking at some more ingenious examples.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40In the calm and shelter of Thiepval Wood,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44we're looking at two - to me, wonderful - bronzes.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47But, of course, trench art is many things.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49It can be that small fragment
0:20:49 > 0:20:51made from battlefield debris by a soldier,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53it can be a souvenir
0:20:53 > 0:20:56or it can be an amazing piece of sculpture like this.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Where do you fit in?
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Well, these figures were made by my grandfather,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02who was Alexander Carrick,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07and he was an artillery man in the trenches
0:21:07 > 0:21:10from 1916 through to 1918.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Right, we're talking a name that I immediately recognise.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I'm an enthusiast for sculpture, particularly wartime sculpture,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and I imagine this is him.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22That's him, yes. That's him in his artillery uniform.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25- It's a very strong face, isn't it? - Yes, very strong.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28So he goes into the artillery and while he was there,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31he was obviously... You know, he was a dedicated artist,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33he was drawing all the time.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38I think these images of trench life, very freely drawn,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40they have a really clear sense of Modernism.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43But also, he's drawing very quickly, he's capturing the moment.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48- And that is clearly going into this sort of figure.- Yes.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51It's very full of action, it's very dramatic,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54it's very stylised, it's very modern.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57You can feel the power, the force, the weight of that great shell.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59He's a member of an artillery team -
0:21:59 > 0:22:03they were a big team feeding the great guns.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05You get the sense of this strength of the people.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Look at the great thickness of his neck.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10He's stripped down almost to his underwear cos it's so hot,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12firing that great gun.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15And he captures all of that remarkably.
0:22:15 > 0:22:16How did he make this?
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Well, this was modelled from the clay of the trenches.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24He befriended a Belgian sculptor behind the lines,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29who cast the figure for him in his shoes into plaster,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32which was then sent back home to the UK
0:22:32 > 0:22:35and it was cast in bronze.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Essentially, what I'm looking at is the ultimate piece of trench art.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41This is as good as it could ever get.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43But, of course, if we move on to the end of the war,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47he's presumably demobilised, he goes back home, he resumes his career,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51but, of course, what the next phase takes us to is the other figure.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54- Yes.- Because clearly, if you'd survived the war,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58it was a golden era because we were into war memorials.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03Every town, every village wanted to commemorate their dead,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and if you look at the history of the war memorial,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10it is a history of sculpture in that period. Everybody got involved.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13And I think if we look at his war memorials -
0:23:13 > 0:23:15some of which I've seen or have read about -
0:23:15 > 0:23:18this is, I think, what a lot of sculptors did.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Either before or after the figure, they would make a smaller version.
0:23:22 > 0:23:23- Yes.- How many did he do in all?
0:23:23 > 0:23:26In the region of 15 to 18, I believe,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28throughout Scotland mainly.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Is that the Killin war memorial?
0:23:31 > 0:23:33That's the Killin - very similar to the Killin one, yes.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Yeah, yeah. Inevitably, they're actually quite valuable pieces.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39I'm sure you know this.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45These sort of small-scale versions of well-known war memorials -
0:23:45 > 0:23:50they fetch two, three, four, sometimes five thousand pounds each.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53But a figure like this is something different -
0:23:53 > 0:23:55you know, this is so powerful.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58You know, I think that would certainly be £10,000 -
0:23:58 > 0:24:00possibly more.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02How do you think he'd feel if he could see us
0:24:02 > 0:24:06looking at his work in this extraordinary context?
0:24:06 > 0:24:07I think he'd be delighted.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11I think he'd be so pleased to know that his figure had come back home,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13100 years later, to the place it was born, really -
0:24:13 > 0:24:15this is where he started.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20We met some extraordinary people in France.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24None more so than Egbert Sandroch, who had a poignant collection
0:24:24 > 0:24:26of items belonging to his grandfather,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29who served - and died - on the Western Front.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Standing here by the monument that commemorates
0:24:35 > 0:24:39so many tens of thousands of the British dead of the Great War,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42we were very keen to reflect both sides of the conflict.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44And your grandfather
0:24:44 > 0:24:47was a German soldier who fought here in this area.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49- This is him, isn't it? - That's correct.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53That's Gottfried Sandroch, killed in action May 1st 1918.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56This is his iron cross, so he was obviously quite a soldier.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01Yes, that's what he got in 1914 for extraordinary bravery, yes.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03You've got his chest here,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06full of the items that he had with him at the Front,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and these were all sent to his wife -
0:25:09 > 0:25:11to your grandmother - after he died.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13I wonder if we could talk about a few of them.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15This particularly caught my eye, this little shoe.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19A very unique item. That's a talisman or souvenir.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23That's the shoes, the baby shoes, of his first-born.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25The first-born being your father?
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Yes, that's my father, my father's shoes.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30It's very touching to think that he took that with him.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33That's extraordinary but, you know, in those times,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35without cellphones and telephones,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37you had to have something where you hold on to.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And this picture here - this is Gottfried, your grandfather.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Yes, that picture is probably 1915.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That's my grandfather and my grandmother and my father.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48The little chap that wore the shoe.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Yes, it is.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53And this little mask here.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54I was intrigued by this
0:25:54 > 0:25:57when I was going through the contents of this chest earlier on.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Talk to me about that.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03I found this mask in one of the original field letters,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08dated in December 1917 when he was back at the Front,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10and obviously his first-born son
0:26:10 > 0:26:13wanted to send him something for Christmas,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17so painted something on cheap glossy paper.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Probably Grandmother cut out the eyes.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25And that was his Christmas present to my grandfather,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27into the lice-infested trenches,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and it looks like that.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31So it's a Father Christmas mask.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It's definitely a Father Christmas mask. We see the beard.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38So by a childish hand and sent to his father at the Front.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42And did your father ever talk to you about Gottfried?
0:26:42 > 0:26:43No. Never.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46I was not interested in all these stories.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I only became interested in my forties.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Then the interest started, so too late.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Now, there's a letter that he wrote -
0:26:55 > 0:26:58as all soldiers had to write letters in the event of their death -
0:26:58 > 0:27:02- and he wrote a letter like that to his sons.- Yes.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Now, is this the letter here, on the top here?
0:27:04 > 0:27:06- Yes.- Can we have a look at that?
0:27:06 > 0:27:09- Yes. - And we've got a translation here.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- Would you read the translation for us?- Yes, sure.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16"My dear sons, you hardly did not know me,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20"but your good mother will often tell you about how much I loved you.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22"You have been my pride.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24"I wish you so much luck for your path of life.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29"Be always ambitious but decent and never leave your good mother.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31"Who will leave your mother in hardship
0:27:31 > 0:27:33"is not worth that the sun would shine on him.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38"My last wish is that you two learn a good profession
0:27:38 > 0:27:40"and that you honour our family name.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43"Farewell, my dearest sons, your father."
0:27:43 > 0:27:45It's very moving, isn't it?
0:27:45 > 0:27:47It is, very touching.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Your father served in the army.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52In the air force, in the German Air Force.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54In the air force. You are also a military man.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Yes, 38 years - German Air Force.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59And what about your children?
0:27:59 > 0:28:04Er, I told them not to be too much interested in the military any more
0:28:04 > 0:28:05and do some decent profession.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07HE CHUCKLES
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Did you feel your family had given enough?
0:28:10 > 0:28:13I think we sacrificed one life
0:28:13 > 0:28:17and three generations in total of service - that's enough.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20So, yes, it's the end of the story.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21Let other families do that.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23Thank you.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39We're surrounded today by gravestones and crosses,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42many of which say "unknown".
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Now, that brings to mind The Unknown Warrior, of course,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48and you know something about that story, don't you?
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Yes, my grandfather, the Reverend George Kendall,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55who was the Senior Chaplain in Belgium and France,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57attached to the Royal Naval Division.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59He was behind the secretive process
0:28:59 > 0:29:02of the selection of The Unknown Warrior in 1920.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Now you've brought a Bible. Frankly, a very tatty Bible.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11Well, we should excuse him for that because this Bible actually saw
0:29:11 > 0:29:13all the major battles in the First World War.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17He was the most war-experienced chaplain in the First World War,
0:29:17 > 0:29:22so he emerged unscathed, except for a reputation as a dreadnought.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27- Why?- Which he denied, but he appeared to fear nothing
0:29:27 > 0:29:31and his bravery was something that really inspired the troops
0:29:31 > 0:29:34and really showed his faith, as well.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Let's have a look.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40It says, "I was also senior chaplain
0:29:40 > 0:29:44"in charge of exhumation work for the whole of Belgium,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48"and assisted in the exhumation and putting on board
0:29:48 > 0:29:53"the warship at Boulogne of the Unknown Warrior
0:29:53 > 0:29:55"who lies in Westminster Abbey."
0:29:56 > 0:30:01Now, the idea for this focus for the nation's grief,
0:30:01 > 0:30:03for the nation's mourning,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07came from a man called the Reverend David Railton.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09He wrote to the Dean of Westminster Abbey
0:30:09 > 0:30:12and, eventually, that idea was taken up.
0:30:12 > 0:30:18And officially, then, bodies - remains, in fact -
0:30:18 > 0:30:22of unknown soldiers were exhumed.
0:30:22 > 0:30:23How many of those were there?
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Because, as far as I know, there's controversy.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Some say four, some say six.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Yes, well, in the book he does state that there were six bodies.
0:30:33 > 0:30:34- Is this the book?- Yes, yes.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37So here we see a typewritten manuscript.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39Do you think he ever meant to have this published?
0:30:39 > 0:30:43I think he did. I think he wanted it published after he'd died.
0:30:43 > 0:30:44I think he didn't want
0:30:44 > 0:30:47the information to come out whilst he was alive,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50and that's why this is all new now.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55So on this page it says, "The Unknown Warrior."
0:30:55 > 0:31:00And this paragraph really interests me. It says,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04"In the morning a general entered the hut.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09"He placed his hand on one of the flag-shrouded coffins,
0:31:09 > 0:31:14"and the body therein became The Unknown Warrior."
0:31:14 > 0:31:16My grandfather had made sure that all the coffins
0:31:16 > 0:31:18looked exactly the same.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22He had examined the bodies to make sure that there were
0:31:22 > 0:31:23no distinguishing features
0:31:23 > 0:31:27or any evidence of where the bodies had come from.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30So I think he was quite satisfied
0:31:30 > 0:31:32that the identity would never be found out.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37And, as we stand today, it still has never been found.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42The coffin was then taken to Westminster Abbey
0:31:42 > 0:31:47and there was a very moving - quite short but very moving -
0:31:47 > 0:31:54service, attended by many families of deceased soldiers.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58And there are stories of, for example, two soldiers -
0:31:58 > 0:32:02two wounded soldiers - who travelled 60 miles,
0:32:02 > 0:32:08they walked 60 miles, to London to bring wreaths
0:32:08 > 0:32:12to the tomb of The Unknown Warrior.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Their brothers had both been killed in the war.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17It's an incredibly moving story
0:32:17 > 0:32:22and your grandfather was part of the beginning of that -
0:32:22 > 0:32:25the crucial part of the selection process.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29I think this is a piece of history.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35See this little phial of iodine?
0:32:35 > 0:32:36It was dug up in the woods back here
0:32:36 > 0:32:40and it would have been part of a small personal medical kit
0:32:40 > 0:32:42belonging to a British soldier during the Great War,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44used wherever he was fighting.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Of course, if he was seriously wounded
0:32:46 > 0:32:47he'd be taken to a medical station,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49where teams would try to patch him up,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53working desperately, tirelessly - often in very difficult conditions.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55And Hilary Kay has one such story.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01These are a group of objects which relate to one of the very few
0:33:01 > 0:33:05women doctors serving in the First World War.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09But not here in the Somme, but in Malta.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13She is Isabella Stenhouse
0:33:13 > 0:33:16and she was your grandmother. Tell me her story.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18She was born in 1887 and eventually,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22when she was 21, she managed to persuade her parents
0:33:22 > 0:33:27to let her go to medical school in Edinburgh, so she started in 1908.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32That is apparently a standard-issue Army medical kit
0:33:32 > 0:33:35and she would have been one of the first women who had it,
0:33:35 > 0:33:40because the Army, at the beginning of the war, said "no women".
0:33:40 > 0:33:42Well, there was an even better phrase
0:33:42 > 0:33:45that I heard from the War Office which was,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49"The front line is no place for hysterical women."
0:33:49 > 0:33:52- This is Isabella, presumably.- Yes.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57In what looks like a doctor's white coat which is several sizes too big.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59Could one possibly imagine it might have been made for a man?
0:33:59 > 0:34:04- Possibly.- I don't imagine they had their own white coats.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Let's try and understand Isabella the woman.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Because she obviously was feisty.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14- Did you know her?- Yes.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17- What did you make of her? - She was just Granny.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20By that time, she was just Granny.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21Yeah, she was just Granny.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24She never, ever, talked about her medical career.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26She never talked about the war.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29- May I jump forward a bit?- Yes.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Because there is a great document here,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35- which is her sign-up document.- Yes.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38- So she became part of the Army.- Yes.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41- And this was in 1916.- Yes.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Very unusual.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Yes, well, the Army had eventually had to change its mind and said,
0:34:47 > 0:34:49"OK, we're going to need some women."
0:34:49 > 0:34:52They'd watched some of the women's hospitals working
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and thought, "Maybe it's not quite so bad."
0:34:55 > 0:35:00So they got in touch with the embryonic Medical Women's Federation
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and said, "Could you find us 40 women?
0:35:03 > 0:35:06"We'll send them to Malta, where it's nice and safe,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09"and we'll send the men off to France." And this was...
0:35:09 > 0:35:12It happened at the sort of height of the Somme so it must have been
0:35:12 > 0:35:14brewing for a couple of weeks before that, at least.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Malta in the First World War
0:35:16 > 0:35:19was called "the nurse of the Mediterranean".
0:35:19 > 0:35:23And from a very small starting point,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26eventually they had 20,000 nursing beds there
0:35:26 > 0:35:29and they dealt with 135,000 casualties
0:35:29 > 0:35:31during the course of the war,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34and one has to remember that part of those casualties
0:35:34 > 0:35:37were perhaps casualties from Gallipoli. What next?
0:35:39 > 0:35:41Well, it gets more dangerous in Malta.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Because U-boat activity gets massive
0:35:45 > 0:35:48and Malta becomes a dangerous place, so they have to close it down.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50It can no longer be the nurse of the Mediterranean,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53because people will get killed on the way there,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55so she was sent on to Egypt.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Which - I think - is where we get to here, don't we?
0:35:57 > 0:35:59That's right, yes.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02Well, Egypt looks as if it's full of chaps.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06Yes. Well, the rumour has it that the mess she was going to
0:36:06 > 0:36:07was Allanby's Mess and they were saying,
0:36:07 > 0:36:11"What? There's a woman coming? A woman doctor? Grrr!"
0:36:11 > 0:36:15And, er, then they slightly softened
0:36:15 > 0:36:18and one of them spent some time with her.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20How much time?
0:36:20 > 0:36:23How long is a piece of string? I don't know.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26But he declared to her that she couldn't ride Dinkums, his horse.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29And she said, "Of course I can ride Dinkums,"
0:36:29 > 0:36:32so off they went galloping into the desert.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And she fell off and broke her arm.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And looking up into the blue eyes above her,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40- she fell in love. - She was a smitten kitten.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Well, I don't know about that, but in her Army papers it does say
0:36:43 > 0:36:47that she was sent home in - was it May 1919? -
0:36:47 > 0:36:49because injured while off duty.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52Now, you see, I've had a sneak preview of what the next page is
0:36:52 > 0:36:56and I want you to tell me if that is the happy ending
0:36:56 > 0:36:58- that I'm hoping it's going to be. - It is indeed, yes.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01That is the wedding of Isabella and Hubert
0:37:01 > 0:37:04up in Edinburgh, in October 1919.
0:37:04 > 0:37:05He being the owner of Dinkums.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Yes, yes.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09Very good. Well, I suppose, to me,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12the surprising thing is that Isabella doesn't seem to have had
0:37:12 > 0:37:15a particularly, er, terrible war.
0:37:16 > 0:37:22Interesting things happened and yet she was not either willing,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25or maybe not interested, in telling the family about it.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27She never even told your mother.
0:37:27 > 0:37:28No, no.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30No, she admitted to once having taken out an appendix
0:37:30 > 0:37:33but she doesn't mention all the shrapnel that is documented
0:37:33 > 0:37:35she pulled out of wounds
0:37:35 > 0:37:38and the anaesthetics she would have had to administer
0:37:38 > 0:37:42and the amputations she would have had to assist at, because...
0:37:42 > 0:37:44I don't know why, but she didn't.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46Maybe she didn't want to remember it herself.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48Actually, maybe that's true.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51She just wanted to turn the page and move on.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Thank you very much for telling us Isabella's story.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09We've heard some remarkable stories passed down the generations
0:38:09 > 0:38:11and, of course, there are few people alive now
0:38:11 > 0:38:14who actually experienced the Great War.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17But I had a chance to talk one such person after a viewer contacted us
0:38:17 > 0:38:21about his grandmother, who recalls her childhood during that time.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25I caught up with her when we visited Richmond in West London.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29Gladys, tell me about your memories of the First World War.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Well, where shall I start?
0:38:32 > 0:38:34With the Zeppelin?
0:38:34 > 0:38:36Oh, you remember the Zeppelins?
0:38:36 > 0:38:42I remember the Zeppelin coming over and I must have been about 5½.
0:38:42 > 0:38:49And we were in the school playground and this appeared in the sky
0:38:49 > 0:38:55like a big silver bird, pointed either end with a box underneath,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59and the teacher came and she shushed us all back into school
0:38:59 > 0:39:03under a kitchen table and told us to stay there
0:39:03 > 0:39:06until she said it was safe to come.
0:39:06 > 0:39:07And were you frightened?
0:39:07 > 0:39:11No, we just took it as it came.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Do you remember it as being a difficult time,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16during the First World War?
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Your father was away serving in the trenches, wasn't he?
0:39:19 > 0:39:24Well, when he went into the war, I was two years and eight months.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28When he came back, I was almost six.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34And I couldn't say that I'd noticed any changes in him,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36because he was a stranger to me.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39- Of course.- Er...
0:39:39 > 0:39:43And I sort of had to get to know him all over again.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Did your father talk to you about the war?
0:39:46 > 0:39:51You couldn't get him to say very much about the war at all.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56And one of the stories we did get out of him
0:39:56 > 0:40:00was after a bad shelling.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06He was going along the trenches and this lad said to him,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09"Got a fag, mate?"
0:40:09 > 0:40:15So my dad said "yes" and he gave him a cigarette and lit it for him
0:40:15 > 0:40:18and he said, "Now, will you be all right?"
0:40:18 > 0:40:20So he said "yes".
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And Dad went further along the trenches
0:40:23 > 0:40:27to see whatever help he could do along there.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31When he came back, the cigarette was still smouldering in his fingers
0:40:31 > 0:40:34but the lad was dead.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37And apparently, he was more badly wounded than...
0:40:37 > 0:40:40- Than he realised.- ..they realised.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42How sad.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46- Well, you're 101 - you don't mind me saying, Gladys, do you?- No.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50You're a fine age and you're one of not that many people, now,
0:40:50 > 0:40:55- who actually remember living through the First World War.- No.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Not a time anyone - and particularly you - would ever want to see again.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01In actual fact, I can tell you more about the Second World War
0:41:01 > 0:41:03than I can about the First World War.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06I know! But the fact that you can remember it all is...
0:41:06 > 0:41:07- Yes.- Is something.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11I know I've been very lucky through my life.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16And they say to me, "Well, what do you put down to your long life?"
0:41:16 > 0:41:20I said, "A little of what you fancy does you good -
0:41:20 > 0:41:21"but don't make a pig of yourself".
0:41:21 > 0:41:23LAUGHTER
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Volunteer soldiers from all over the British Empire
0:41:30 > 0:41:32answered the call to arms,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35including more than 600,000 Canadians.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Those willing to fight abroad made up the Canadian Expeditionary Force,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42more than half of whom had been born in Britain.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Paul Atterbury is looking at
0:41:46 > 0:41:49an object which unites one group of them.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52Now, something I really love is an object
0:41:52 > 0:41:54that takes me on a journey.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57And I'm looking here at - I have to say -
0:41:57 > 0:41:59not the best banjo I've ever seen.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02But the key to it, I know, is when we turn it round
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and on the back is this mass of names.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10- Right.- They're names from different countries,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12they're names from different dates.
0:42:12 > 0:42:18One of the key dates I can see is "Paris, August 24th 1917". Yeah.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21That sets the scene very clearly.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Now, what's this banjo to you?
0:42:23 > 0:42:25History.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29I bought it from a dealer in the north of England
0:42:29 > 0:42:31and I could see that there was writing inside
0:42:31 > 0:42:35but I didn't know what it was until I got it home.
0:42:35 > 0:42:41And the places which these individuals put beside their names -
0:42:41 > 0:42:43they're all from Canada.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45And you're from Canada?
0:42:45 > 0:42:49- Yes, I am, yeah.- So you buy this, knowing nothing about it.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52- It's an interesting object with, apparently, a history.- That's right.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56- And then do you set out to find that history?- Yes. Yeah, I did.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59So what... What's that journey taken you to?
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Oh! Well...
0:43:02 > 0:43:06First of all, the names have got their home towns.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10And those home towns stretch from British Columbia
0:43:10 > 0:43:14on the west coast right through to Nova Scotia on the east coast.
0:43:14 > 0:43:20And I've lived most of my life in Ontario, so that was my first call.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25And I took a name off there and it is James Platts, Vineland,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28so I looked on the telephone directory and the first number
0:43:28 > 0:43:29I found, I phoned.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35And his daughter-in-law answered the phone.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38- Couldn't be better. - No, couldn't be better.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40- And that started the journey. - Yes, it did.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43- Name after name after name. - Yes, that's right.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Now, I've got a couple of photographs.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48This is that James Platt, isn't it?
0:43:48 > 0:43:51- Yes, it is.- What is his story?
0:43:52 > 0:43:55He was born in Matlock in Derbyshire
0:43:55 > 0:43:56and he became an orphan.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59And when he was 13, he was put on a ship
0:43:59 > 0:44:03and sent to Canada to work on a farm.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04When the war came...
0:44:06 > 0:44:07..he went and signed up.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Yeah. Now, did you establish
0:44:09 > 0:44:12that all those names scattered across Canada
0:44:12 > 0:44:14were all in one regiment or unit?
0:44:14 > 0:44:16One may not have been.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20The others were all in E Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23- And is this them?- Yes.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25So what we could say - although we can never prove it -
0:44:25 > 0:44:29is that all these people have their names here.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31There's a very good possibility.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35Now, this is a very important story for various reasons.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39The reason why it means so much to me I can share with you now.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43I had a great-uncle whose name is on that memorial,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47and he was sent to Canada at the age of 17,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51because his family had got into trouble financially
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and they sent him away for a better life.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56He was sent out with nothing
0:44:56 > 0:44:59and made a life for himself in Winnipeg.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04And in 1914, in September, he came back here,
0:45:04 > 0:45:06by then a Canadian citizen,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13He fought and served all round here
0:45:13 > 0:45:16and was finally killed here in October 1916,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18by then attached to an English regiment,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20but he was always a Canadian.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23- Yeah.- So your story means a great deal to me personally
0:45:23 > 0:45:26- cos, in a sense, I feel I'm part of it.- Yes, you are.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30And the second thing - which, again, I feel very strongly about...
0:45:31 > 0:45:35..is that we here - the British -
0:45:35 > 0:45:39were completely dependent upon what were then called -
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and forgive me - Imperial Forces.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45If we hadn't had Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47South Africans, Indians,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50we would have lost the First World War. It is as simple as that.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53- I know that. - And they were all volunteers
0:45:53 > 0:45:56and, as I say, without them, we wouldn't be sitting here -
0:45:56 > 0:45:58we wouldn't be having this conversation.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02I find it, for those two reasons, a very personal story.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Now, I don't play the banjo, but you do, don't you?
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Yes, I do.
0:46:07 > 0:46:08So what are you going to play?
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Well, there's only one tune.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13When Chappell Music published it,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16on the cover of the sheet music they said,
0:46:16 > 0:46:18"It's a long, long way to Tipperary".
0:46:18 > 0:46:20- A long, long way.- Yes.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23HE PLAYS "It's A Long Way To Tipperary"
0:46:40 > 0:46:43WARTIME RECORDING: # Farewell, Leicester Square
0:46:43 > 0:46:48# It's a long, long way to Tipperary... #
0:46:48 > 0:46:51You've got a nice selection of First World War medals here.
0:46:51 > 0:46:52How many do you actually have?
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Roughly 30 to 35 at the moment.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I have to say, you're quite young for a collector - how old are you?
0:46:58 > 0:47:01- Er, 14. - When did you buy your first medals?
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Roughly around 2006, cos that's when my uncle got me into it.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08I went round his house and he showed me his collection,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10so that really did get me going.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15Gosh! Well, I have to say that I was you at your age.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19I was fascinated by them, from a very early age.
0:47:19 > 0:47:20I can't tell you why -
0:47:20 > 0:47:23the First World War just intrigued me and it still does.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Where do you get them from?
0:47:25 > 0:47:27- Mainly from internet auction sites. - Right.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31But boot fairs, antiques markets - wherever I can get them, really.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35There are two medals here that are of particular interest to you.
0:47:35 > 0:47:36Now, tell me a little bit about them.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Well, these standard Victory and British War Medal pair
0:47:40 > 0:47:44were given to a Private Garnet Hestor
0:47:44 > 0:47:48in the East Kent Regiment and he enlisted when he was under age,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52at the age of 16 - which, at the time, the enlistment age was 17.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56And on his records, it shows that he had joined
0:47:56 > 0:47:59saying that his age was 19 and 5 months,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02so obviously a bit of a lie when you look at the census.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06And soon afterwards his mother wrote in
0:48:06 > 0:48:10and basically explained that her son had joined under age,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12and she had wrote a letter
0:48:12 > 0:48:15which does have some quite touching sentences.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18For example, "I hope you'll not think this cowardly of me..."
0:48:18 > 0:48:23And it goes into details about her son's return.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27It says, "Thank you in anticipation for my son's quick return."
0:48:27 > 0:48:30So it really does show that she does want him back.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34She was very fortunate cos she did get him back, too. So many didn't.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39He is one of thousands of under-age youngsters who must have joined up.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43I think the youngest was actually your age and you are 14, aren't you?
0:48:43 > 0:48:45And many of them, of course, slipped through the net,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49so he's quite unusual in having been found out and returned home -
0:48:49 > 0:48:51- and, actually, quite lucky.- Mm.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Can you imagine what it must have been like
0:48:53 > 0:48:56for someone almost of your age to be over here in the middle of the war?
0:48:56 > 0:48:57Incomprehensible, to be honest.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01It's hard to imagine what life was really like for them, back then.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04Yes, I think the hardship that they endured
0:49:04 > 0:49:06is something that we can only guess at.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08But it's a lovely collection
0:49:08 > 0:49:11and I think it's absolutely great that you're taking an interest.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Of course, it makes a lot of difference
0:49:13 > 0:49:16being able to do the research on the internet.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19So an ordinary pair of medals, maybe £30 or £40.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Once you start to do some research
0:49:21 > 0:49:24and you've added flesh to the bones of the man, if you like,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27that can increase the medal group's value quite considerably.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29£50 or £60.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32But all of these are becoming more valuable as the years go by -
0:49:32 > 0:49:34they're becoming rarer as the years go by -
0:49:34 > 0:49:38so you have the basis of really a very good medal collection already.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42- Thank you.- Do you have any goal in terms of collecting?
0:49:42 > 0:49:44- What would you really, really like to get hold of?- Er...
0:49:44 > 0:49:46A Victoria Cross grouping,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48- but that's not really going to happen.- Good luck!
0:49:50 > 0:49:54# It's a long way to Tipperary... #
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Following Paul's meeting with banjo player Alec Somerville,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01something remarkable happened in the shadow of the Thiepval Memorial.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Now, very soon after you and I finished talking
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and recording that item, an extraordinary thing happened,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09and this lady came up,
0:50:09 > 0:50:14and amongst your photographs was this one.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Tell me who he is.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20His name is Raymond Roland and he's my great-uncle.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22And he is one of the banjo...
0:50:22 > 0:50:26He's on the banjo, above James Platt's name.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29- Yeah.- So what does that mean to you, hearing that story?
0:50:29 > 0:50:31It was overwhelming.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Absolutely emotionally overwhelming to me.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36- It's an extraordinary coincidence. - It is, isn't it? Yes.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38But I have to say,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42this place generates extraordinary events and coincidences.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Every time I come here, something happens.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47- Yes.- Once again, it's happened, you know.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49- Yeah.- Those ghosts have sorted it out -
0:50:49 > 0:50:53they've watched us do it and they've interfered again.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56- Thank you. - Thank you. It's all Alec!
0:51:15 > 0:51:19Well, we have come from the magnificent memorial at Thiepval.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24We've come west now to this quiet little cemetery at Warloy-Baillon.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27And I understand you ladies are all three generations from one family.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29That's right, yes.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33And this cigarette case, I believe, was owned by your father.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36- My father Joel Halliwell. - Tell me about him.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39He was a very, very quiet man.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41But why was he given a cigarette case?
0:51:41 > 0:51:44It's not the sort of thing that everybody gets handed out.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46I don't really know much about that.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50Well, let's look at it. There'll be a good clue in here, I'm sure.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55And it says, "Presented to Lance Corporal Joel Halliwell VC..."
0:51:55 > 0:51:56- There's a clue.- That's right.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00"..by Major Smith and staff at Bury in 1918."
0:52:00 > 0:52:02- That's right.- So...
0:52:02 > 0:52:06VC. We all know what that stands for - Victoria Cross,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09the nation's premier award for gallantry.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12- Yes.- So, why did your dad get that?
0:52:12 > 0:52:17Well, he saved nine soldiers and an officer.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21- So how did he do that? - He captured an enemy horse.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24- Oh, really? - And rode out into No Man's Land.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28- Yes.- Ten times altogether, and brought back the wounded.
0:52:28 > 0:52:29And then he walked for miles,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31I believe, to bring back water for them.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35And he only stopped when the horse collapsed.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Oh, dear! Well, that's amazing.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Having been a serving soldier myself,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42we used to be trained to do casualty evacuation
0:52:42 > 0:52:46and I can't tell you what it's like to try and pick up a body
0:52:46 > 0:52:49that's a dead weight and just put it on your back and walk with it.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52You know, you walk 200 yards with it, it half kills you.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55- Yes.- But to get a wounded man on a horse...
0:52:55 > 0:52:56And he did that ten times.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00Ten times. He rescued an officer and nine other ranks.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03I always find courage a very interesting thing.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05There are two types. There's a sort of red-mist courage
0:53:05 > 0:53:07where somebody thinks,
0:53:07 > 0:53:09"My advance is being held up here, my men are being shot -
0:53:09 > 0:53:11"I've got to deal with that machine-gun nest,"
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and they're up and they're in there and it's over in minutes, seconds.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18But I find it so difficult to come to terms with
0:53:18 > 0:53:21- this sort of enduring courage. - Exactly.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Every time he did that he must have made a conscious decision
0:53:24 > 0:53:27that he had to go out there and bring one of his pals in.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29- I just think that's fantastic. - I know.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31I know, it is. It's brilliant.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34And I think it's perhaps even more...
0:53:35 > 0:53:37..salutary when you think that
0:53:37 > 0:53:40he was sufficiently close to the front line
0:53:40 > 0:53:43- that all the fire that was coming in was entirely random.- Yes, yes.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46- And he must have been absolutely exhausted.- Exhausted, yes.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48- It's miraculous that he wasn't hit himself.- Yes.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Well, we've got a picture of three chaps here.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53I'm guessing he's one of them.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55- Yes, that's my dad.- Yeah.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58That's his brother, Tom.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00- Aye.- And we've no idea who that is.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02We assume that's a pal.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Presumably this was taken before he joined up.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07- Yes, yes. - What did he do as a profession?
0:54:07 > 0:54:09He was a labourer. Labourer.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11My dad went in the Lancashire Fusiliers.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15- A very fine regiment.- Yeah. Tom didn't - he went in the Borders.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17- The Border Regiment. - The Borders, weren't he?
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Tom got killed at the Somme.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21- Sorry to hear that.- Yeah.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Now, this is a picture of your dad with his medal.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26Yeah, yeah. He was thin when he came home.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29- Yeah, he'd lost a lot of weight. - Cos he was a stocky man.- Yes.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31What does it mean to you?
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Particularly - you know - the third generation.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37I feel really proud that it's my grandad.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40- So you should. - It is, it is. Very proud.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42You know, it's just a remarkable story.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44I know. It is, really.
0:54:44 > 0:54:45Now, we can see his medal there.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47- That's right, yeah.- Where's that?
0:54:47 > 0:54:49- Oh, it's in the family. Good. - Oh, yes.- Excellent.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51- But you haven't brought it today? - No.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55- That's very wise, because...safety. - Yes.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58I know you can't put a price on one man's bravery, but, er...
0:54:58 > 0:55:03- No.- ..they are the most sought-after of all medals by collectors.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08And for an action like this,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11with this sustained courage,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14I think that you'd be looking at somewhere
0:55:14 > 0:55:17probably about quarter of a million to start, to open the batting.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19And you get the right collector and, frankly,
0:55:19 > 0:55:20the sky would be the limit,
0:55:20 > 0:55:23- cos they don't come on the market very often.- Good heavens!
0:55:23 > 0:55:25- As you haven't got the medal with you...- No.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28..we thought that you might like that.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30- Wow!- Oh, thank you.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34We had his name put on the back of it as well.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37I hope that you will display that
0:55:37 > 0:55:38with that cracking good picture,
0:55:38 > 0:55:41- and that will become a bit of an... - Oh, thank you so much.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43It's our pleasure.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45I think his is a fantastic story
0:55:45 > 0:55:49and I'm so grateful for you, coming to tell us.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51I am humbled to hear this story.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53It's just absolutely fantastic.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55It just does not get any better,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58and thank you so much for coming and I hope you enjoy our little present.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00- Thanks so much.- My pleasure.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02- Bill, that was lovely, thank you. - Thank you, Fiona.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07There's another reason why we've brought you here today,
0:56:07 > 0:56:09to this particular place.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12You talked about the men in the photo here, and your father,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14- and also your uncle Tom.- Yes.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16And he fought here at the Somme
0:56:16 > 0:56:18and, as you say, he died here at the Somme.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20This is his cemetery.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Aw!
0:56:22 > 0:56:23And this is where he's buried.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26Is it? SHE GASPS
0:56:26 > 0:56:29So I wonder if you'd like to come and see his grave.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Oh, I didn't know. Oh, yes.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34- Would you like to come and see it? - Yeah, thank you.
0:56:34 > 0:56:35It's just down here.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Oh!
0:56:40 > 0:56:44- This is a beautiful spot, isn't it, for him?- It is. It's lovely.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46- Are you all wanting to come?- Yeah.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49- And what do you know about how he died?- I don't.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52- We don't know an awful lot, do we? - No, no.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56He died when he was 29, I understand. He died of his wounds.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59He's just a little way along here.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06- He's here amongst some of the Canadians.- Oh.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16- And look - here he is.- Oh, gosh!
0:57:16 > 0:57:17Oh.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19- Where is he?- That one, Mum.
0:57:19 > 0:57:2518014 Private T Halliwell, Border Regiment, 2nd October 1916.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34- It's so lovely to be able to see that, isn't it?- It is.
0:57:34 > 0:57:35I don't know if...
0:57:35 > 0:57:37I brought this. I hope you don't think it's presumptuous -
0:57:37 > 0:57:41- I didn't know if you'd want to put it at his grave.- Oh!
0:57:49 > 0:57:50Oh, Tom.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57It's beautiful. Thank you so much.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15As you can see, even generations later,
0:58:15 > 0:58:17families are still coming to terms
0:58:17 > 0:58:20with the full impact of the Great War.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22We'll be back with the second special programme
0:58:22 > 0:58:24from the Somme later in the year.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26But for now, our thanks to our contributors
0:58:26 > 0:58:27for sharing their stories with us.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30From the Somme Battlefield, bye-bye.