Remembrance

This photo of my great grandmother used to be in a frame by my grandma's bedside when I was a little girl. Sometimes I used to curl up on her bed and and look at the photo and grandma would tell me that about her mother and about her brother Jack who stood behind his mother in the photo wearing his soldier's uniform. I though that my great grandmother looked very old and cross in the photo, but I knew that my grandma loved her very much. Now as an adult I look at that photo with more understanding, my great grandmother wasn't old, she was barely 60, but life had been a struggle for her. She wasn't cross either, she was afraid of what the future may hold, afraid that her sons would be taken from her. Today, I will remember, I will think of my great grandmother Elizabeth who lost three precious sons in the First World War, two of them died within a week of each other. I will remember Will, the only son who survived the war, his physical wounds healed in time but the war had robbed him of his strength and his love of life. 

Jack Buswell, Elizabeth's youngest child was just 21 when he was killed in action on 8th October 1917. 

Newspaper report 3.11.1917

"A snipers bullet caused the death on October 8th of Sergt. Jack C Buswell of the Beds. Regiment. Youngest son of Mrs and the late Mr J Buswell of 24 Campbell Street and fiancé of Miss Ivy Bellchambers of 30 Balmoral Road. Twenty-one years of age the deceased joined up in January last year and went to the front in December. He was a member of St Sepulchre's F.C. and a member of St Sepulchre's Young Men's Bible Class, the eighth member of which he is to be killed. Three brothers are serving in France" 

Edward Tom Buswell was killed in action at Poelcappelle, Belgium on 10th October 1917. He left a wife Ada and three young children, Billy was 10, Elsie was 8 and baby Jack was just a week old. 

Newspaper report 10.1917

"A well known figure in Trade Union circles, Pte. Tom Buswell whose home is at 29 Compton Street, is reported killed in action on October 12th. Deceased who was 34 years of age leaves a widow and three young children, with whom much sympathy will be felt. He was the fourth son of Mrs and the late John Buswell of 24 Campbell Street, and joined up last February going to France in June. He had worked for many years for Mr A.E. Marlow of the Oceanio Works. His youngest brother Sergt. Jack Buswell was killed only four days previously, and two other brothers are serving." 

Frank Buswell was age 24 when he died in action in France on 18th August 1918. 

Newspaper report

"Great sympathy will be extended to Mrs Buswell of 24 Campbell Street Northampton in the sad loss she has sustained by the death of a third soldier son, Driver Frank Buswell of the R.F.A. who died in hospital in France from pneumonia which was supervened on mustard gas poisoning. He was gassed on August 8th and died a week later, his mother, who was sent for, reaching him two days before he passed away. He had seen sixteen months service, fourteen of which had been spent in France. A fourth son is in hospital at Plymouth. Driver Buswell was 24 years of age and fiancé of Miss Hester Slater of 44 Great Russell Street, he previously worked for Messrs W. Barratt and Co."

My Grandmother like the rest of her family was devastated by the loss of her brothers and she still spoke of them often when I was a little girl and she was in her 80's.  I cannot imagine how she felt when the Second World War came and her only son (my father) was first in the Home Guard and then as soon as he was old enough he joined the army. Her son survived, but one of his cousins was killed and another was badly injured. This photo shows my dad Frank and his cousin Jack (both named after uncles killed in WW1). They both survived WW2 but Jack was badly injured. 

  

Sadly almost every family has a similar story to tell, real people, real lives and an enduring sadness that touches successive generations.  Yes, of course we must remember, and we must learn, but we shouldn't just remember with flag waving or with pomp and circumstance. All the poppies in the world cannot take away the pain and the sorrow. It is up to us to make the present a fitting tribute to those who sacrificed their future. 

There are times when war is unavoidable and there are occasions when it could perhaps have been avoided, but our leaders take us to war anyway.  War is never glorious and those involved may or may not be heroes, but to a greater or lesser extent they are all scarred forever by their experience.  Some time ago my work brought me into contact with a lovely man who had been a medic in the Falklands War.  His life had been devastated by post traumatic stress disorder ever since, but he got precious little care or support from the army or from the various charities who support service personnel and their families.  It is a sad indictment that so many years after the 'war to end all wars' we have still not achieved peace.  As far as I am concerned the most fitting tribute to those who have died would be treat those who survive with greater dignity and care - whatever it costs.

'Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.'

My dad died over thirty years ago, I was only 6 when he became ill so there were many things that I wish I had been able to ask him but didn't have time to. I knew that he had been in the army during the latter years of the war, I even had a few pictures from that time  but I wished I knew more about what he did and where he went. It was just one of the many things that I thought I would never know. Then completely out of the blue I was contacted by someone who told me that during the war the Post Office in Northampton produced a monthly newsletter called Northampton News sharing letters home from post office workers in the forces or doing war work. My dad had been a Post Office messenger before going into the army and his letters home were among those published in Northampton News.

The newsletters have been made available as scans, it is hard to read some of them, but I have picked through them and found the ones showing letters from dad, they start in 1943 when he was 17 and go on to 1945. It is a little glimpse of his army service in his own words so it tells us much more than his service record would show. My dad told me very little about his time in the army but I remember him telling me that he was in the Home Guard before he joined the army. He said that he was like Frank Pike in Dad's Army, but I don't think I really understood what he meant until I read his letters. When he wrote the first few letters he was still a boy, he wrote about food and what he has seen at the cinema, but as time went on it was clear from the letters that he had grown up and he was painfully aware of the grim reality of war.

"On receiving the 'News' yesterday with the first mail I have had for a few days, it woke me to the fact that beside not getting any mail I hadn't had much chance of writing. We have bags of work now with our lads advancing so fast and have very little time to ourselves. I am now in Germany although I am glad to say that much of my work takes me into Holland. It seems to me that there won't be much left of Germany to occupy after the bashing it's had. I thought Caen (Normandy) was bad but it is nothing compared with some German towns. In some towns there is not one civilian left and not a house standing. Not just one or two places like this, but town after town. 

Yesterday I got into camp at 4 o'clock after a week on the road and took my truck into 'shops'. I collected it at 10.30pm. Then first thing this morning I was off again and this letter is being written in one of my few breaks on the road. That's keeping the wagon rolling isn't it?" (early 1945)

The editors of Northampton news must have made a very big difference to to all those people so far from home, but they could not possibly have known what a difference their hard work has made to me so many years later. They have given my dad a voice over thirty years after his death and they have made it possible for him to tell me about himself in his own words. I wish I could thank them, but of course it is far to late for that. I would like to thank David who realised the value of the old copies of Northampton News and not only took the time to scan them, but also made an effort to share them with relatives of the letter writers. It has helped me to understand my dad a little better and I think I have a better understanding of how worried my grandma must have felt. When he joined the army at 17 my dad was the age that my son is now, that is scarily young, she must have been so frightened for him especially after the horrors of the First World War when three of her brothers were killed in action

Northampton Post Office WW2 Newsletters By Dave Thacker

'Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.' - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe