Greetings, May I offer some thoughts for consideration? Consider the fact that many people had never ventured further than the next villiage or town. It was an era of pride in King and Country/Queen and Country, to which perhaps you may need to add that the 'class' structure was alive and well, perhaps to support the idea or to hasten its demise. 'To do ones duty', or to 'see the world' and with promises of being home by Christmas, war was not reported in all its horror that came later. Allow goodly intentioned ladies who gave white feathers, depicting 'cowards', to apparant healthy citizens. Perhaps the good wife and kids at home were incentives to get away or to get swept up in the passion of the moment. Either way, they were our grandparents/ancestors, we should respect and honour these who made us what we are today. Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Taylor" <alan.taylor-howe@ntlworld.com> To: <greatwar@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:35 AM Subject: Re: [GREATWAR] Age of service > Hello John, > My great grandfather was also KIA 16th June 1916 aged 41 with 13 children > at > home, the youngest being twins born 1913. He left one of the higher paid > jobs in > the area as a steelworker to answer the call to arms. I often wondered > why, was > great gran such a bad wife or what, my grandmother and my uncle and aunt's > opinions was that she was a very understanding soul ! > > Alan ... > > Alan Taylor... {East Midlands UK} > Please visit our family genealogy site:- > http://www.forefathers.homestead.com/ > > > This was an interesting question and certainly one that I have wondered > about. > My grandfather was killed 21st June 1915 aged 41, whilst in Suffolk > Regt he had as far as I am aware no previous military service. > What made it even harder to understand was that he was the father of 10 > children, the youngest just a few months old. > I guess it is hard to understand the motivation from those times. > Regards > John Taylor > QLD > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message