#OTD in 1915 and 1940 two members of my family met with fate during #FWW and #SWW. Pix show my Great uncle Leslie Barnes and my uncle Edward Leslie Barnes. This thread will tell their stories. @HistoryOfStokey @sommecourt @Taff_Gillingham

Les was killed at Hooge while serving with 'D' Company 2nd Bn London Regiment. He was 20. These pix show him in Malta in December 1914 and with his pals on the Western Front. He is bottom left in the group pic.

His friends and officers wrote to my great grandmother Helen-Louisa to express their sympathies and offered a sanitised account of his death. These copies of the letters were made by my aunt Joan in the 1920s.

I went out in 2010 to look in the field where Les died - it is between Railway Wood and the Menin Road. My mate John and I left an RBL cross and found remnants of the conflict all over the place.

Les and two others - PJ Ryan and Fred Lunn were buried together at Divisional Cemetery. I have been many times, the last for the centenary in 2015. @CWGC

The three men were originally in a shared grave as these Graves Registration cards show. I assumed there wasn't much of them left as they were killed by shellfire.

Les is remembered on the Stoke Newington war memorial. I have his 1914-15 Star and a Princess Mary tin, but this may have been my grandfather's. Les's name is two up from 16 yr old Robert Barnett (buried at Rifle House cem). They lived near each other.

I found Les's memorial plaque in 2004 when I was clearing out my aunt Jean's bureau. She had dementia and was going into a home where she died in 2007. I believe his scroll of honour and other ephemera were buried with my great grandmother Helen-Louisa.

Which brings us to my uncle Edward Leslie Barnes. Born in 1913, he went to sea as a boy, following my grandfather. He earned a short-service commission with the Royal Navy in 1931 and served on several destroyers and HMS Barham.

in 1940 Edward was Second Officer on the Severn Leigh a 1919 vintage cargo ship crossing to Halifax Nova Scotia in ballast as part of convoy OA-200. These pix show him with fellow officers including (I believe) the master Robert Hammett.

The ship was torpedoed by U-37 and began to sink. This shot is from American public archives confiscated from Germany in 1945.

The survivors abandoned ship and Four lifeboats were lowered, but Victor Oehrn the sub's commander ordered his deck gunners to fire on the ship because he claimed the Severn Leigh's gun was still manned. The shelling killed more men and wrecked 2 boats.

The remaining men were in two usable boats. Oehrn gave them some brandy and they were then adrift 600 miles off Iceland. My uncle Les helped lead an 800 mile journey from there to the Isle of Harris where the two boats landed 14 days later.

This fanciful artwork is from the Toronto Star. Edward had to "finish off" men who drank sea water who endangered the boats. There were ten survivors. 29 men had died. Captain Hammett had also drunk sea water and was delirious. Edward had him tied down.

Edward received the first George Medal awarded to the Merchant Navy. He also received the Lloyd's Medal for Bravery at Sea. Captain Hammett became an OBE and got the Lloyd's Medal. Apparently he went into a mental institution because of his experiences.

Edward took part in the D-Day landings, he was on a blockship for either Arromanches or off Sword Beach. He spent a lot of time criss-crossing the Atlantic and loved New York City. His story fades away after WW2. He died far from home in the 1950s.

My dad rarely spoke of him, but thought he had died in Buenos Aires or Montevideo. It might have been 1957. It baffles me how he could know so little about his big brother, but that's families for you. Here's to Les and Edward - "Teddy" RIP.

apologies for a couple of typos...