“My father Michael Kennedy was in the merchant navy and his ship was torpedoed. He was from Slade, Co. Wexford, Ireland and they would all have been seafaring people. According to my brother, my father was taken prisoner after his ship was torpedoed and he probably didn’t make it back from Germany until after the war was over. We think he was probably around 19 or 20 years old when he joined up. I have his war medals and also his merchant navy lapel badge. There’s a ‘For Loyal Service’ badge as well. I also have some medals belonging to Thomas Mason, my father’s brother-in-law and childhood neighbour. Thomas’s ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean and he spent 53 days adrift on a life raft. He died of yellow fever and is buried in India, in Bombay or Calcutta, I’m not sure which. I also have a British War Medal belonging to Mathew Ronan who was in the Royal Engineers (Service No. 270918). It was with my father’s medals but I don’t know if Mathew Ronan was a relative or one of my father’s friends. After the war my father and mother (Annie Berney Kennedy) went to Liverpool and lived there until shortly before his death in 1943.” || Images: Some of Michael Kennedy’s and Thomas Mason’s medals; a medal belonging to Mathew Ronan; photo of Michael Kennedy and Annie Berney; wedding photo; photo with memory card; || || Michael and Annie Kennedy || My father and mother, Michael and Annie (née Berney) Kennedy || Photograph || || Michael Kennedy's and Thomas Mason's Mercantile Marine and British War medals. Top left is a Merchant Navy badge and top right a 'For Loyal Service' lapel badge. || British War Medals and Mercantile Marine Medals, with lapel badges || Medal || Michael Kennedy's and Thomas Mason's medals || || Medal || British War Medal of Mathew Ronan, Royal Engineers, # 270918 || Remembrance || Mathew Ronan's British War Medal || || Remembrance || Photograph || Michael and Annie (Berney) Kennedy || My parents on their wedding day || || Michael Kennedy's memory card and photograph || Michael Kennedy || Memorabilia

A British patriotic postcard. || The printed information on the back of this black-and-white postcard includes a stamp box containing the words ‘Inland Postage 1/2d. / Foreign Postage 1d.’ This dates the postcard to some time before 3 June 1918, when inland postage rates for postcards went up to 1d. Four children wearing fancy dress posed in front of a Union flag for the photographic scene printed on the front of the postcard. Her helmet and trident identify the girl standing at the back as the personification of Britannia. In front of her are a boy in a sailor suit; a girl wearing a nurse’s uniform; and a boy dressed as a British soldier. A sign around the ‘nurse’s’ neck reads: ‘FOR THE RELIEF OF OUR ARMY & NAVY’. || || A British patriotic postcard, 'For the relief of our army and navy'. || Postcard

Locket with picture