Lest We Forget

My Grandfather Robert Strickland was called up to serve his country around 1916 when he was 27 years old and the father of four young daughters. He was trained as a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery which took responsibility for heavy and siege artillery in the field. After his training he was sent over to Flanders in Belgium and was in the 308th Siege Battery Battalion.

On the 27 October 1917 Robert received a serious gunshot wound to his back, according to my aunts this occurred at a place called ‘Hell Fire Corner’. If you approach the town of Ypres in Belgium via the Menin Road you come to a large roundabout, this roundabout is located on what used to be the notorious junction ‘Hell Fire Corner’. This junction was an important transport hub on the Menin Road, which ran from Ypres to the frontline trenches. Situated in a particularly exposed area, it was under constant observation by the Germans and within easy range of their guns. Anything moving along the roads here had to run the gauntlet of shellfire. As a result, it became notorious as ‘the most dangerous corner on Earth’ and thus earned its grim nickname. Transportation during the day was impossible because of it’s visibility from the higher laying German military so all the crossings of the junction occurred at night, Artillery units would have to pass almost every night, and it was probably during one of these crossings that my Grandfather Robert was injured.

My Grandmother Charlotte originally received a telegram telling her that Robert was missing in action and presumed dead and it wasn’t until she was busy trying to get a widow’s pension that she received the notice that he was alive and in a hospital in Newcastle. Even though he thankfully survived the war he was never able work full time again because of his injuries. Apparently Grandad never wanted to talk about his time in the War and shortly after the Second World War broke out, and two of his sons were of military age, he suffered and died from a heart attack, he was only 51.