(And sorry, other than that, I could help you out more with WWI-- my great-grandfather served in it with the Highland Regiment.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Once you've got some internet leads, try the library. If you have access to a good library system you should be able to find some very good information.
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Well, like I said, my grandfather served in the Highland Regiment in WWI. Their dress uniform (which people actually sometimes wore to the battlefield back then-- the end of the era of "gentlemen's wars) was kilts. They were preceded into battle by a pipe and drum corps who all wore kilts. My grandmother tells a story she got from her father about this: many of the German soldiers were very young, and country boys-- not too worldly. In one battle he fought in (before he was captured-- that story later) it was a misty morning. They recieved the order and marched onto the battlefield, preceded by their pipe and drum corps. These very young German soldiers heard a wailing like banshees and saw men in strange clothing coming onto the field through the mist.
They turned around and ran.
Now, my great-grandfather, before the war, had been a steward on a cruise ship. When he was captured, he was taken to a prisoner of war camp. The German commander of the camp lived in a fairly nice manor house on the camp grounds. When they found out what my great-grandfather had done before the war, he was made butler of the commander's household, and treated much better than he might otherwise have been. When the war was over and the commander was preparing to surrender, he called in my great-grandfather, the American who had been acting as the doorman, and the Frenchman who had been the chef, and thanked them for their service. Then he shook their hands, handed them each a copy of a photograph he had had taken of the three of them several months earlier in their full uniforms, and dismissed them. Then he went out and surrendered the camp. We still have that photo.
That's all I've really got, sorry. But it's fun to hear these stories. You probably can't use them, but I hope someone enjoyed them. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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