The 1914-1918 war, WW1, had begun on August 1914 and now shaped the lives of my grandfather's family and consequently all their subsequent descendants.
So totally mind blowing is the undisputed fact that, for us to have existed at all the events had to have happened the way they did. For this reason I have delved into the following circumstances in some detail.

John Frederick Gaywood

 A lot is written about WW1 and its futile losses and poor command. Sometimes I feel this could detract from the valour and sacrifice of the fallen heroes. Not many would have wanted to be there but their motivations at that time would have come from a passionate desire to protect and to make life better for those back home and a strong sense of patriotic duty. Of such sentiments are soldiers made and destroyed. Those at home are spared the hardships or knowledge of the soldiers plight at the front line and can continue to bring up the soldiers children and carry on with their lives, albeit changed lives. Ironically this reinforces and fulfils part of the soldiers ethos and fuels the propaganda machine for sending a nations youth into that hellish hostile environment in the first place.

The War Years:-
The war began on August 1914 until 1918 although the build up to the event had been festering across Europe for some time. It was fought mainly in France and Belgium against the German and Turkish armies. It was often made up of a battle seesaw, winning and losing small areas of ground fought for by infantrymen dug into trenches. Casualties were astronomically high and advancing warfare techniques included rifles, bayonets, mortars, gas, and later aircraft and tanks. Remember this was before the age of multi communication methods and then pigeon and runners or cyclists were the method sometimes used to give
out orders to the battalions at the front. Often the generals in command were secure some distance back from the front line.

Typically an infantryman's uniform would have been a helmet, gas mask, shovel, rifle, bayonet, water bottle, back pack, ammunition pouches, battle dress blouse and trousers, puttees worn to below the knee and ammunition boots. Conditions in the trenches were unspeakably terrible and in addition the soldiers were plagued by miserable rations, lice and rat infestations. They had to endure constantly soaking wet boots and uniforms plus the threat of poisoning by gas and flying ammunition, together with the deafening and confusing sounds of battle. Their physical shape and general health was poor and their hope of survival negligible.

 John Frederick Gaywood an infantryman

1917 3RD Ypres Passchendaele Somme Salient.
The third major battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, took place between July and November, 1917. General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Commander in Chief in France, was encouraged by the gains made at the offensive at Messines in June 1917. Haig was convinced that the German army was now close to collapse and once again made plans for a major offensive to obtain the necessary breakthrough.

The opening attack at Passchendaele was carried out by General Hubert Gough and the British Fifth Army with General Herbert Plumer and the Second Army joining in on the right and General Francois Anthoine and the French First Army on the left. After a 10 day preliminary bombardment, with 3,000 guns firing 4.25 million shells, the British offensive started at Ypres a 3.50 am on 31st July.

My grandfather John Frederick Gaywood was an infantry soldier with the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Alberts).
He was no. 235088 PTE JOHN FREDERICK GAYWOOD and part of the 8th Battalion of the 2nd Army and attached to 63rd brigade A/C company. On the 31st July 1917 at the Battle of Pilkem on the first day of the Haig offensive and the start of the 3rd battle of Ypres John Frederick together with many other infantrymen was lost in Flanders Field! 

A significant passage from the war diaries for that day say:-

"5.40 p.m. Pigeon report from Capt. Baker that platoon sent forward had retired, that posts were established N. and S. of Beek Farm that 2nd Lt. Blake had been killed, that his platoon had suffered many casualties and that it was at that hour impossible to bring in wounded."

Maybe he was killed in action? Sniper fire? Wounded? Shot? Drowned in the quagmire of slime and mud? No one knows as he became one of tens of thousands of soldiers whose bodies were never found in the battles of the Somme.

His name is all one can find in Belgium carved into the huge memorial Menin Gate crossing one of the main routes into Ypres, the vast walls of this arch are covered from floor to ceiling in some of the names of soldiers lost on Flanders Field in the battles of the Somme. There are many more memorials in the region with tens of thousands of soldiers names, enough to render the visitors speechless and to hang their heads at the enormity of the seemingly needless losses on both sides.
Some years later there was a memorial inscription added to the words on a family gravestone at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

We have visited the Menin Gate twice and as you stand within its vast arch looking towards the town there are steps on the right hand side. When climbed these lead to an area where wreaths and messages are left by those visiting. Just above this and to the right is the name John Frederick Gaywood. It was both moving and poignant to stand on this spot and made even more so by the presence of some old soldiers from another regiment who were visiting to view the names of fallen comrades. They produced a bugle and unfurled a regimental flag and played 'the last post' whilst standing to attention. This was an apt mark of respect and was very memorable and moving and a well timed ceremony coincident with our own visit.

During 1917- 1918 back home in England, his wife Florence Jessie and the three children were left without a husband and father and source of income, and had to find a way to survive. The hardships of fighting the war for any country have far reaching implications on the economy as the war ends and shortages and other deprivations ensue. No other family members would have found it possible to provide the resources for the four destitute members of the family and Florence Jessie was forced to seek employment. She found a job as cleaner and general housekeeper to a local GP.  this demanding job included accommodation for herself and the three children. Sadly it was not long after that she became gravely ill and on 29th April 1921 she died of acute diabetic coma aged 33 years.

The family

The children were then orphaned and split up as they were accommodated wherever a relative was able to help. The middle child was my father Bernard William Gaywood only aged 9  and by that time both parents had died.

                                             The orphaned Leslie, Marjorie and Bernard Gaywood

 Ours was just one of the families whose lives were forged by the terrible waste and slaughter of the First World War.