Colin Thomas Methven, service number 10327, R.F.C. Royal Flying Corps. Part of a Lewis machine gun (the foresight from a F.E.2b Farman Experimental 2bi-plane or an F.E.2d?) that allowed the gunner to fire the machine gun through the propeller of the aircraft. Taken by Colin Methven as a souvenir - he was based at Auchel Aerodrome, Pas de Calais during WWI. He enlisted in Kilkenny in October 1915 and was officially discharged on 19 March 1918. He lost his left hand and eye and suffered severe damage to his left ear in a flying accident - his discharge papers refer to this.

Photograph of Harry Walter with the machine gun platoon of the Oxford&Bucks regiment. Harry is standing on the immediate left of the mule.

My maternal grandfather, Arthur Wallis, fought throughout the war on the Western Front as a member of the Machine Gun Corps. This is his diary from 1918... While on the front my grandfather bought a card embroidered by one of the local French women. He sent this card with a message inside to his daughter, Minnie, who is my mother. The letter reads: 'Dear Minnie, Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well, so I trust you and all at home are the same, trusting I may soon see you all.' The letter was written in August 1918 as the war was nearing the end. || 1918 diary, also containing a photograph and money, some from Yugoslavia. German shell case July 1917 from 77mm field gun Embroidered card