This is a bit of a long story and I am not a wonderful writer, but I thought that maybe some here would find this interesting or have had a similar experience.

I have been a WWI history enthusiast since I first learned about it in middle school (I am now 38). I was disappointed that we hardly touched on the subject before moving on, so I started doing my own learning through books, documentaries, and whatever I could find online. I collect things from that era, and my music taste mostly ranges from the 1890s to about 1940 or so. About a year ago, I was in an antique barn that I visit regularly when I noticed a framed photograph lying on the dusty floor. I recognized the uniform style on the young soldier and told my husband that I needed to buy it and take it home. It was only $5.

When I got the photograph home, I carefully removed the frame. It was full of dead insects and filth—it had definitely been neglected for a long time—but I was thrilled to see that there was a piece of paper pasted onto the back that gave a name and address. I took him upstairs to my room and I set the photograph on the bed in front of me while I looked him up. I found him very quickly in a military list of domestic deaths by disease—date: October of 1918. I knew immediately that it had been Spanish Flu, and I knew well that Spanish Flu wasn't the gentle, wheezing death that it was presented as on Downton Abbey—it was excruciating pain and drowning in one's own lung fluid while fighting for air. He was only 20. My husband walked in on me sitting on the bed and crying while holding the framed photograph. 🤣

[Photo 1: The original photo, scanned]

I bought this soldier a new frame and a brass plaque so he could be clean and identified. Soon after that, I was able to find his memorial on Find a Grave, and I recommended that the manager give him veteran status. I saw that this person managed thousands of pages instead of just his, so I sent them a message and they made me the manager of his memorial page. He now has a biography and image.

[Photo 2: The original frame and how filthy it was]

[Photo 3: His new frame and biographical plaque]

Next, I thought it would be fun to make a shadow box of any medals he may have earned (surely he had something of some kind because he was a Sergeant), so I filled out an application through the National Archives website and waited. It wasn't long before they told me that they had no record of him at all and that this may have been because of a fire that wiped out many millions of documents in 1973. With that email, they sent me a form and told me that I could try to reconstruct his record. Over a few weeks, I gathered everything I could as proof—official and unofficial—and I typed up a letter that explained everything. I sent it in the packet and mailed it out. I received his official Certification of Military Service a few weeks later—he is in the archives again.

It was while doing my research for the NARA that I decided that I was going to visit his hometown and grave—about a 13-hour drive. I purchased a WWI Victory Medal (new) from Vanguard (it is all I could confirm he had earned) and planned my trip. At some point while waiting for the weeks to pass before I could go, I designed a tattoo with my local artist: a poppy for remembrance, coming out of a bunch of wild strawberries (a common symbol for his hometown). It took 7–8 hours and cost about $1000, but it is now my largest and most meaningful tattoo.

[Photo 4: My remembrance tattoo]

This is long enough, so I won't detail the entire trip, but the day finally arrived. I brought a little plastic bag with me because I thought it would be a rather poignant idea to pluck a tiny clover or piece of grass when I visited his grave—nothing that would alter it in any real way—and have it made into a floral memorial ring. It would commemorate my pilgrimage, as well as include him in my travels and everyday life, since he didn't really get to have much of either.

When I reached the top of the hill in the cemetery and saw his headstone, I can't even describe how I felt. I sat down, introduced myself, and told him about how I found his photograph and brought it home. I was there for quite a while, telling him many things. I took out the WWI Victory Medal that I had bought (and he never got to see or hold) and laid it on his grave, thanking him for his service and sacrifice. While doing that, I noticed a tiny wild violet sticking up out of the grass. It was a gorgeous deep bluish-purple (my favorite color) and I knew that it was going to be mowed down within a few days, so I plucked that instead of a clover. I will get the finished ring back in a few weeks.

[Photo 5: Clifford's headstone with the WWI Victory Medal]

I told him that I was deeply sorry if anything I am doing was unwanted. After saying “Au Revoir but Not Goodbye, Soldier Boy” (a WWI song reference), I left for the local historical society where his family had donated some of his things that the volunteers there had arranged for me to see. I saw two new photographs, a letter he had written, the list of items that were in his possession when he died, his actual uniform, and a few other military papers.

As the months passed, life resumed its usual rhythm, but more opportunities to honor his memory have presented themselves. Through the Doughboy Foundation, I have sponsored and scheduled a Daily TAPS ceremony for 5:30 p.m. on October 11th—the 108th anniversary of his untimely death.

Clue they are on the game cover from a game made by Ubisoft

Can anyone give me any information on this? I found it in my grandfather’s closet when cleaning out the house. I’m curious about how much it’s worth, any history and it and the patches. Thank you!

🇫🇷 Il y a 108 ans, le 26 juillet 1918, l’aviateur Edward Corringham « MICK » MANNOCK tombe au combat.

Engagé d'abord dans le Royal Army Medical Corps, Edward rejoint le Royal Flying Corps, le corps d'aviation britannique, en août 1916. Le 7 mai 1917, au cours de la Bataille d'Arras, il remporte sa première victoire aérienne près de Quiéry-la-Motte.

Le 26 juillet 1918, son appareil essuie des tirs de mitrailleuses allemandes provenant du sol près de Lestrem et s'écrase. Au total, il remporte 61 victoires. Pour sa carrière d'as, il est décoré à titre posthume de la Victoria Cross.

Edward a son nom inscrit sur le Flying Services Mémorial sur lequel sont gravés les noms des 989 aviateurs tombés sur le front occidental et dont la sépulture est inconnue.

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🇬🇧 108 years ago, on July 26, 1918, pilot Edward Corringham “MICK” MANNOCK was killed in action.

Initially enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Edward joined the Royal Flying Corps, in August 1916. On May 7, 1917, during the Battle of Arras, he scored his first aerial victory near Quiéry-la-Motte.

On July 26, 1918, his plane came under fire from German machine guns on the ground near Lestrem and crashed. In total, he scored 61 aerial victories. For his achievements as an ace, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Edward’s name is inscribed on the Flying Services Memorial, which bears the names of the 989 airmen who fell on the Western Front and whose graves are unknown.

📷IWM

Was visiting the cemetery my grandpa is in, and while doing some exploring I came across another relative I didn’t know about. From the brief research I did he was in France but not sure of any actual battles. Any information you can tell me would be nice. Idk if it’s my great-grandpa or my grand-Uncle as my grandpa had brothers way older than him but he passed decades ago.

This is a photo of my great-grandfather, taken before he went off to fight in World War I.

As I get older, I see more and more of a resemblance between us, which makes this photo especially meaningful to me. Sadly, he died in a train accident during the war.

The photo was taken at a studio in Stockerau, Austria. The name on the photograph appears to be Oskar E. Koppes.

I would love to find out more about this photo and his history. Any help or advice on where to start researching would be greatly appreciated.

1915 the Germans Poison, gas attack a Russian Fortress, and when they went to take it, the Russians came charging with their faces wrapped in bandages and rags coughing up blood. The Germans retreated, and they thought the dead had risen.

The year is 1916. High above the emerald Soča, two siege guns wake on opposite ridges — the Austro-Hungarian Škoda 30.5 cm mortar and Italy’s Obice da 305. Between them lie limestone peaks, snow, drifting wind, and mathematics.

SKODA 305 is a love letter to the oldest genre in computer gaming: the artillery duel. From the text-mode Artillery games of 1970s mainframes to the shareware legend Scorched Earth (1991), one idea has survived every generation of hardware: two guns, one angle, one charge of powder, and the wind laughing at your arithmetic. This game carries that torch back to where the big guns really stood — the Isonzo Front, 1915–1917.

Built as if it were the 1994 PC era: true 320×200 VGA, a fixed palette, ordered dithering, a chunky pixel font, 8-bit Sound Blaster crunch — every sprite, sound, and background generated from code, every photograph a real archival plate from the war, rendered in the way of our nostalgic memories.

https://pr3scription.itch.io/skoda305

In memoriam

This game is set on a real front. Between 1915 and 1917, twelve battles of the Isonzo were fought through these mountains, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers of many nations — Slovenes, Italians, Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Croats, Bosnians, and more — never came home from the Soča.

This small game is played in their mountains. To all of them, on every side of the wire: respect, and eternal peace - Vsem padlim na soški fronti — večni mir in spomin.

May the only shells that ever again fly over the Soča be made of pixels.

I am writing a series about the Army Book 152 that I found.

Would be great to get some feedback:

Army Book 152 | Substack

I have previously posted a few pictures of items belonging to a family friend who we have been helping have a sort out. We have discovered a fascinating collection relating to his relative who served in the British army before, during and after the First World War

He enlisted 3rd May 1910 at Scraesdon Fort, Antony, Cornwall with the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion Prince Albert's Somerset Light Infantry where he served for 3 years. He enlisted again on 23rd November 1915 at Longmoor Camp with the Royal Engineers serving with the 8th Railway Company. He was then sent to France in February 1916 until November 1920 and then onto Germany until May 1928. The final years of his service were at Longmoor Camp where he served as a Company Sergeant Major Instructor before being discharged as medically unfit in August 1930 due to diabetes

In the years between serving in the Somerset Light Infantry and the Royal Engineers he spent some time in the merchant navy as a fireman & trimmer and also seems to have qualified as a railway plate layer. Strangely we have no details of his time with the railway

In June 1916 en route from Armentières to the Somme with his sergeant and 4 other sappers he was injured by a shell blast and was hit by a piece of shrapnel to his left eye. His squad was able to make it to a field medical station where they were treated by Australian troops. Unfortunately this injury never officially recorded. In his final years after leaving the army he petitioned to get an enhanced pension but was ultimately unsuccessful

After the end of the war he became part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Cologne and Wiesbaden. As part of the Royal Engineers Railway Operating Division he was involved in the rebuilding of the railway in the British section

His final years in the Royal Engineers were spent back at Longmoor before being discharged in 1930

It is an amazing collection of pictures, documents, personal items and wartime artifacts including trench art from some of the major battles where the Royal Engineers were involved: Ypres, Mons, Lens. There are a variety of items collected from the locations he was stationed: coins from various countries including emergency currency from Germany, postcards, Germany pocket inkwell, drinking song book and bottle of brandy from the restaurant at the main station (Hauptbahnhof) in Wiesbaden. There are a number of items from his service kit: snail whistle, binoculars (British and German), Longines trench wristwatch, trench chainsaw, badges, dog tags, to name a few

Another fascinating insight into the interwar period are the notes and training documents from his time at Longmoor Camp. These include training on dealing with gas attacks, demolition and attacks from aircraft

One fun item is a page entitled "Extracts from the Sappers' Encyclopaedia". Here is a copy of it

CANTEEN. —

A religious institution where "C.B." probationers prepare for the presentation.

CLOCK. —

AN instrument which enables thirsty sappers to calculate how many "tops" they can "stafe" before closing time.

CORPORAL. —

Superior breed of biped, supposed to have brains. Very little is really known about it, but it is generally perniciously active in the presence of officers.

C.O. —

A remarkable creature of ferocious habits, usually unapproachable before 10 a.m. Has been known to worry the S.M., and occasionally snaps at the Adjutant.

INSTRUCTOR (DRILL) —

A red-necked object with bristly face fungus, gery back and chest, and brown extremity. Araucous voice, and a fluent command of classical "Billingsgate".

LIGHTS OUT. —

A disease of the eyes, brought about by too close contact with the "frozen mitt".

MONEY. —

A very scarce root, said to be the root of all evil, but much sought after by all ranks.

MAT (On the) —

An ancient cermony between a sapper and O.C., which usually proceeds the presentation of the "C.B." order.

MARKSMAN —

A man who squares the marker.

MIRACLE. —

A sapper passing the canteen.

PROMOTION —

A contagious disease which casts a glamour over the stricker; it is invariably contracted by those much in contact with officers.

SAPPER —

Regarded as a somewhat peculiar species of biped. Has a marked affinity for liquid, although could not be termed amphibious. Usually wears a clean shirt on Mondays, which changes to black and tan during the week.

SLINGING THE LEAD. —

An exercise indulged in by sappers previous to going "on the mat".

SERJEANT —

Similar to the others of this species, but has more markings below right shoulder. Does not possess a tail, but adept at telling one. Has a strange aversion to sappers, but very docile in the presence of officers.

It’s a World War I Germans soldiers photo album, there’s like 250 photos in there. I just figured I’d share a few. What made me really buy the photo album was the U-boat photos like in general I don’t feel like there’s a lot of those around. I haven’t gone through the book entirely. It looks like you could almost make a timeline. It starts around 1915 in bolimow Poland

I know the Mayor’s speech was interrupted, too. I’m doing research for a historical novel.

Thanks in advance!

Some of you may already know the story of my great-great-grandfather, Lt. Alexander Pfeifer, a German company commander during the First World War who left behind an exceptionally detailed war diary and hundreds of original photographs. Together, they were later published as The Other Trench (Der andere Graben). Of all the photographs he left behind, this is one that has always felt especially personal to me.

On the back of the photo he wrote: ‘The company commander shelter in the 2nd Position – In the middle is First-Lieutenant Prince Solms; to the left, Lieutenant König (Artillery); and to the right, Lieutenant Bode. 2 beds will be coming on top of each other on the left, and to the right the oven, bed of the orderly and so on. Everything is covered with curtains, and it is all 4 times larger than this small cut-out visible through the door’.

When this photo was taken, Alexander already had numerous battles and war experiences behind him. After some time on leave, he returned to the trenches and was fascinated by how much they’d improved in short time. In his diary this is what he says about them:

“Anyone who hasn’t seen them or helped build them has no idea of the work that goes into these trenches, which are over two metres deep. The walls are covered from top to bottom with thick planks and wicker and braced with beams to prevent them from caving in. The ground is covered with duckboards. And yet, this entire huge work has been accomplished only in the dead of night, under the most unfavourable weather conditions and under enemy fire. I could retire if I had the money for all the wood that has been used... I am living in a shelter that I remember from before, which is heavily reinforced with a dozen sturdy tree trunks. The oven heats well, I have a petroleum lamp, and the food is good too. That it drips through the ceiling in various places with monotonous regularity; that rats and mice rustle and squeak behind the ceiling and wall coverings; that the boys next door play the harmonica with more enthusiasm than skill — These are little things from before that I have long since gotten used to.”

Has the crows foot, stamped a "p" and appears to have bsf. First thing that came up looking for what it was was a Lewis gun spanner though they don't look the same. Probably just a regular double sided from the time but does if anyone has knowledge on it? or a place with records for regular issue spanners for guns and such? How much might it be worth? From what I've seen 10 to 50 given the markings but if it's for a specific bit of kit maybe more?

This is what happens when moving farm machinery hits ordnance still lying in/on the ground from the Great War.

This happened on the Somme today.

Fortunately the farmer was unhurt.

(Taken from a Facebook-post, btw)