I found this advertisement in an American newspaper from 1918. Cracker Jack is a popular caramel-coated popcorn snack, later to be associated with the sport of baseball in the minds of Americans. In 1918, Cracker Jack urged Americans to join the US Navy (their mascot was a boy in a sailor suit). Also, by eating the product, consumers could save valuable sugar and wheat for the war effort. The USA had just entered the war in 1917, so the patriotic fever was still strong with the American public. Item from the Library of Congress, Albuquerque morning journal. (Albuquerque, N.M.), 09 June 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. || Newspaper advertisement for Cracker Jack, urging readers to enlist in the US Navy.

Jack’s father was in the Royal Flying Corps and transferred into the Royal Air Force in April 1918 on its formation. Margaret’s father volunteered into the Royal Engineers at the Somme Barracks, Sheffield which he continued to visit for the rest of his life for get togethers with old comrades. He was involved in the tunneling campaigns in the Somme region that resulted in massive explosions under enemy lines, such as the Lochnagar mine detonated on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Such dangerous work was depicted recently in the book and TV adaptation of Birdsong. After the Somme, he was posted to Italy where he learned to speak Italian and developed a taste for vermouth. || A photograph of Margaret Mitchell's father and his battalion in Vicenza, Italy 1918. Note the men's mascot - a dog on the front row. Margaret's father is on the 2nd row down, 6th on the left.

The twin brothers John Christopher (Jack, who was my grandfather) and Angelo (Lal) Stephens enlisted in 1914 with their cousin Arnold. Lal was in the Fourth Fusiliers Cavalry regiment. He wrote of the friendships he had formed and also about when his horse was killed. Both Jack and Lal were wounded at the Somme. Unfortunately Jack was left injured in the field overnight and because of this, he was not expected to live. He received treatment at an English hospital in Richmond and survived with shrapnel in his right leg. This would have been in late 1916. Amazingly, in 1923 or 1924, Jack met the man who had carried him off the field after he was injured. He died on 15th August 1969 and is buried in Dean’s Grange. Lal received treatment for his injury in a French hospital before being sent to England. He died in August 1980. Another brother, Jim, joined the air corps and upon returning home from the war became founder of the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire. Also, my grandmother’s brother, Joseph Byrne, died on 1st March 1918 in France (possibly Ypres) He was a Dublin Fusilier. || Picture of cavalry regiment