One hundred years on it is hard to imagine the impact of the Armistice. I was too young to discuss it with any of my relatives who survived the war. I imagine amidst the celebrations there would have been a sad reckoning.
My paternal grandmother who on November 11 1918 had been a widow for more than 7 months and a mother for a little over 4 months was profoundly affected by her experiences. Speaking to my mother almost 45 years later of her beloved husband she would always break down in tears. My grandfather, Harold Faulder was Killed In Action on 26 April 1916. My grandmother also lost a cousin, Harold Bruce Lendrum who Died of Wounds on 1st August 1917.
I also had two paternal great uncles and a paternal great aunt who served; but again I was too young to speak to them about their experiences. The great aunt served with the FANY and (with four other women) was awarded the Military Medal for driving ambulances into an ammunition dump that was on fire. The eldest great uncle served in the infantry (going on to serve with the Indian Army in World War Two and being awarded the DSO), the youngest joined the RAF in the last months of the war and was an early parachute pioneer.
My maternal grandfather (on her adoptive line) survived World War One (serving in Mesopotamia with the ASC) and served as an ARP warden in the Second World War but spoke little of either war and when I knew him was suffering from the effects of a severe stroke. My mother’s adoptive parents seem not to have lost any close relatives to the war.
My mother met her genetic mother relatively late in life and never met any of her genetic paternal family. On both sides of her genetic family I have discovered a number or relatives who served in the Army. Whilst her close maternal side seems to have suffered no casualties, the close paternal side lost one Killed In Action, one to Disease and one Missing.
In respect of Armistice Day the only story that has shown up is that of Paul Cuthbert Petrie’s service as a Battery Commander in World War I (the official history of the Battery paying glowing tribute to him as an officer) and of his involvement in the Home Guard in World War II. He was the husband of my first cousin twice removed.
The battery history records how at 9:00 am, just before the armistice, Major Petrie himself fired the last shell from his battery (which at the time was the British battery which could claim to be nearest to Germany). In view of the impending armistice he despatched it with the safety-cap still on. The Germans responded at 10:45 with a dozen shells with the safety-caps most certainly off.
A Record of D245 Battery 1914-1919 by Sgt Gee M.M. and Cpl Shaw, Renwick, Otley and London p.167-168
