Photo of Frederick Charles Wilson || My grandfather Frederick Charles Wilson was in the Royal Fusiliers, serving in Arras, France. He died on April 23, 1917. My husband's grandfather, William Jury, served, was wounded, sent home, had shrapnel in his head. He died in his 70s. Life was made more difficult at that age because of his wound.

My grandfather John Drawbell was born on 17 July 1870 in Linlithgow, Scotland. The story went that he left home when he was very young and joined the Highland Light Infantry. He stayed in the army all his life, spending several years, I believe, in India. I know he was based at Edinburgh Castle as my mother was Christened in St Margaret's Chapel there in 1906. As a pre-war regular he was commissioned as Lieutenant into the 11th battalion part of K1. According to historian Everett Sharp, K1 was the first of six new armies named after Herbert Kitchener, then Britain's Secretary of State for War, who recognised there was a need for many men for a long war on the continent. Sharp says that because of the small size of the British Army at the outbreak of the war, all men with previous military experience were welcomed back with open arms, even at the advanced age of 44. According to Sharp, it looks as though my grandfather went into action at The Somme after training to France, later moving on to Ypres, then Passchendaele in July 1917, when in the same month he was promoted to captain. There is a note that he was mentioned in dispatches four times in 1916 and 1917. His medals were the 1914 Star, War Medal and Victory Medal. After the war he brought me up almost single-handed until I was 10 as my mother was ill with MS. Sergeant Service No 3530 Campaign medals - India Medal Clasps Awarded: Punjab Frontier 1895-1902 || Service Book John Drawhill

This crucifix is made from bullet cartridges and features the word 'Ypres' above the image of Christ. This is an example of 'trench art', and these would have been sold near battlefields as souvenirs to battlefield tourists and talismans to the soldiers themselves. My grandfather must have bought this in Ypres while he was stationed there. It has been on our family mantelpiece for years, and my sister Louise (named after Thomas's wife, our grandmother) took it around the world and sent it from Portugal so it could be photographed for the roadshow.