Photograph of Leonard Kirk in uniform || My grandfather Leonard Kirk was born in Leeds as one of nine sons, of whom two died in Flanders. Leonard himself died from pneumonia on his way home to his family in May 1919. His brother Joe did make it home but was badly wounded and shell shocked and never worked again. When the First World War broke out, Leonard was visiting England from Chicago with his wife Ethel (they had emigrated in 1910) awaiting the birth of their second child, my father George. Leonard wanted to do his bit and joined up. He went through the war uninjured, but then died on 4th May 1919 at the age of 38. He died in Italy and is buried at Faenza. Leonard was a gunner with 20th Small Arms Ammunition Column Royal Field Artillery. Because Leonard did not die in action or from wounds, Ethel was not classed as a war widow and therefore received a widow's pension of £2.4s.9d. Leonard was the son of Samuel and Alice Mary Kirk of Bramley, Leeds.

Front || Memoir of Leonard Kirk by his granddaughter. Brief memoir and photograph of Leonard in uniform.

photographie || Incorporé au 26e Régiment d'Infanterie jusqu'au 25 septembre 1910. Au début de la guerre il est affecté au 137e Régiment d'Infanterie. Cité à l'ordre du régiment le 8 juin 1918 : N'a pas hésité à traverser à la nage une rivière importante sous le feu de l'ennemi pour ne pas rester entre ses mains et venir continuer à se battre. Voir la notice biographique de Jean Eugène Arthur Robin dans le Dictionnaire des Vendéens || || portrait de Jean Eugène Arthur Robin || Jean Eugène Arthur Robin || Photograph