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Genealogy/memories

WW1 remembering family members

(33 Posts)
suzied Mon 04-Aug-14 17:34:26

you can narrow the search down on the everyman remembered site by regiment , place etc, but the chances are someone on those 33 pages will be a relative . you can pick one who comes from part of the country your family lived and commemorate them. You can find the cemetery and take a tour round and see the names , ages, etc of the dead. its all very moving.

ninathenana Mon 04-Aug-14 10:57:01

Have just looked at my maiden name on the cwgc site to see if there were any possible brothers of my paternal grandfather. Despite the name being fairly uncommon now there are 33 pages. With the law of averages that's a poignant reminder of the numbers involved. So not much hope of finding any.

suzied Mon 04-Aug-14 06:48:19

I think you click on "commemorate someone you know" and fill in their name , but I found its better just to put the surname and not the forename as well, even if you know it, as sometimes they are registered in just an initial or initial and the computer won't recognise the full name, it will then search the database, which is from the Commonwealth War Graves commission , and you can hopefully then pick out your family member, it took me several attempts to find my Great Uncle, but I did find him and it had details of his parents, their address, his date of death and so on. Very moving. I managed to post some photos I have as well. Its not a very user friendly site, but I did manage to negotiate it.

Annaries Sun 03-Aug-14 22:02:26

Have just tried to use it and found it quite a problem. It was difficult to find out whether it wanted you to search or input information. I tried both and got nowhere.
I find the Commonwealth Wargraves website very useful.
www.cwgc.org
You can see photos of the cemeteries and which battles were fought close by. It's very sobering to look at, particularly the ones like Thiepval, with 72192 identified casualties buried there.

MariClaire Sun 03-Aug-14 20:57:13

My great uncle as well, from the US. I have a handkerchief he presented to my grandmother upon his return from the theater, now framed and treasured. Sadly, I never met him; he never recovered from the war and committed suicide thereafter. sad

Elegran Sun 03-Aug-14 20:43:17

And my two great-uncles, who died within a few weeks of each other. In civvy life, one was a sign-painter, the other a piano tuner, neither of them naturally soldier material.

Pittcity Sun 03-Aug-14 20:17:48

Thanks suzied I will add my Great Uncle too.

suzied Sun 03-Aug-14 19:43:03

www.everymanremembered.org

There is a new British Legion site where you can leave a memorial to any of your family members or anyone you may have heard of killed in WW1. You can add photos, family stories etc. link above. I have added my great uncle.