Unusual for me to pop down here, but I spotted the thread and had a look.

My granny’s uncle Jo was at Anzac, having the luck to arrive in early September just after the last of the set-piece attacks. That luck seems to have stayed with him as, despite being a Private, he seems to have managed to be at HQ at any time something dangerous was going on – how, I don’t know! Granny had a photo of him looking very smart and manly in his uniform with his slouch hat and sunburst badge, and was quite sure that he’s been murdered for his demob money when he returned to Australia after the war. In 2001 I found a very different story – he’d decided to make a clean break from his family, and start a new life. It turns out that the big, bronzed, manly Aussie I’d imagined was 5’6″, slightly built, bright ginger, and never lost his Scots accent or his love of a p***-up and a punch-up!

If WW1 is your thing, take a look at http://www.oldshep.co.uk/ – one village’s memories. I will confess to having a vested interest, I scanned 13 albums-worth of the photos! Shepreth seems to feature heavily in the realms of WW1 stories making the news, one of the joys of having a journalist involved.

Adrian