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The First World
War, at the time known as the Great War, was a cataclysm that changed the planet forever.
At the time men of the warring countries were called to arms to join in the fight for
justice and freedom. The men of Britain were summoned to fight and repel the German
invaders from Belgium and France. The response was overwhelming; they eagerly grasped the
chance to leave friends and family and join a war that was to be over within weeks and
could only result in victory. The truth and ghastly facts were tragically different ; the
war became one of attrition and lives were thrown on the scrap heap at an ever alarmingly
rate. Soon volunteering was through, men were conscripted; they had to go ! The war
continued until 1918 - over four long years in which eight million were killed and over
twenty million were casualties. A visit, nowadays to the Western Front, as it was then called, is a solemn reminder of a past almost impossible to imagine. Row upon row of gravestones, each in endless cemeteries, spanning France, Belgium and countless other countries barely remembered. The visit is made almost to close to home when it is in search of ancestors or those sharing a unique name line Mortiboy(s). Such a visit begins with a letter to the commonwealth War graves commission; who have relentlessly maintained and documented men of the United Kingdom who fell in two World Wars. My researches revealed that 5 Mortiboy/Mortiboys have memorials and died as a result of the first world war. They are: William Woolley Mortiboy died 1918 buried Heath cemetery France Howard Ernest Mortiboys died 1918 buried St. Sever cemetery France William James Mortiboys died 1916 buried Sarigol cemetery Greece William Henry Mortiboys died 1916 buried Deville Wood cemetery France Alfred Mortiboy died 1915 remembered Le Touret memorial France This feature is intended to get you interested and say who were these men, why and how did they die ? If you decide to go and visit their war graves and remember their memory then I have achieved my objective. The shared experience of life and the continuity of memory is what Family History is all about. To stand at a grave, look at an old photo or some other link to the past and to think that you and all you are is the cultimation of others experience and life force is a mighty step forward. We are not just individuals in this life but a multitude of different facets. We arrived here through the will of our forbears and we carry on in the strength and knowledge of our children. The men who died in the Great War are the shadows of our past; we learn when we visit their world. We grow as human beings |
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Mortiboy's - Soldiers of the Great War |