Sunday WW1 Remembered...

  The Lancashire Infantry Museum

based at Fulwood Barracks in Preston is the HQ of  The Queen's Lancashire Regiment

It holds the archives for the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

It was a real privilege to be able to peruse original WW1 documents

None more poignant than this 1917 Field Message Book

belonging to the 7th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

The book was flimsy and fragile, its copy vulnerable and poignant, 

and within its hand written pages was a wealth of information that made the war 

come frighteningly to life.

I learned that the men preferred soup to tea..

That meat especially bacon often went 'missing '..

That pairs of socks constantly needed to be replaced and

 in this message book another 72 pairs had been requested..

That creosol was used to disinfect the dugouts..

That gumboots were better worn at night..

That men sustained severe shoulder bruising from the recoil of firearms..

That dead soldiers were often hurriedly buried in marked spots at the back of the dugout..

 I learned that brave men, like these, left behind family and friends, wives and sweethearts

LNLR 8th Battalion

And answered the call of duty  

LNLR 8th Battalion

We must never forget them

LNLR entering Cambrai

Thanks to The Lancashire Infantry Museum for their warm welcome and the absolute privilege of being able to sit and take a while to look, to read and to remember the bravery 

of 

The Loyal North Lancashires.

~***~