1st Nov 1914 Pte John Reynolds 6021 and his brother Arthur 1st Lincolnshire Regt

[Polldoll]

Remembering  a grandfather John Reynolds and great uncle Arthur Reynolds who died  together just outside Wytschaete, Belgium  on 1st November 100 years ago.
Pte John Reynolds 6021 1st Btn Lincolnshire Regtiment , born  in 1881, was the eldest son of Thomas and Louisa Reynolds. Originally it was  a Militia Attestation  in 1901 with 4th Battalion Lincs Regt with a different number 3766 and he signed up for 6 years. He re engaged in 1913 under secton D in the Army Reserve.  His brother, Acting L/Cpl Arthur Reynolds 7074, born 1884, 1st Btn Lincolnshire Regiment, also attested into the Militia 3rd Lincolnshire, with number 5682 originally in 1904 . Both were killed on 1 November 1914 just outside Wytschaete during the retreat from Mons. Arthur is buried at Wytschaete Military Cemetery and John is now commemorated as one of the Fallen on an Addenda Panel on the Menin Gate  following our request to CWGC as there was no known grave.

Very little was known about these two men before my research started. Their parents had both died before the War; Arthur never married and John's only child  (my husband's mother) was born to Amy, his wife, three months after he was killed. It was the set of John's medals that we found following the death of my husband's mother ( John's daughter ) that started the search for answers 20 years ago.  We made a pilgrimage to follow in John's footsteps last September in 2013 as I have copies of the War diaries  and after extensive research into where he was billeted, fought and marched  etc in the weeks before his death, we were able to finally pay our respects for the sacrifice he and so many others  have made.
We saw Johns name engraved amongst nearly 55,000 other soldiers whose bodies were never found or identified.
We had visited Tyne Cot cemetery and Thiepval earlier where another 44,000 and 72,000 soldiers have no known grave and those figures defy comprehension don't they?
As a result I wrote this poem to try in some way to explain why I felt compelled to look at every headstone that I passed  and in some small way acknowledge them as a fellow human being, some mother's son  and not a statistic .......
 

                     
  COUNTING THE COST  IN 2013

And ninety nine years laterI weep at what I see.
Statistics in the history books a stark reality.
White, silent sentinels, they stand, as soldiers on parade.
The rows go on and on and on till only distance fades
The numbers to be counted, as far as eyes can see.
Each stone denotes a mother's son who gave his life for me.
I walked among the headstones where fallen soldiers lay,
Imagining I hear a sound, a distant bugle play.
So standing still with head bowed low, I weep for all those lost...
Astounded at their valour, the overwhelming cost.
Unknown or named, each stone engraved
Ensures that every son
Receives acknowledgement from us
For freedom that was won.

Polly

[derekwg]

 Very moving Poll...beautiful poem.

[leka]

What a lovely and moving poem Polly, with you permission i would like to copy it and put it in my tree alongside my relatives who fell in WW1

[IMBER]

Hi Poll

Difficult to intrude into your touching remembrance with mere detail but, with the best of intentions, just for your family's records, they did not die during the retreat from Mons. That was over and their unit and all other British forces transferred north to Belgium and replaced by the French before the date they were killed. Hope that helps a little.

Imber

[Polldoll]

Hello leka .... thank you   for your kind words and also  for asking to use  my poem. I am sending you a pm regarding copyright and am really  touched that you want to use it.
 Ah  Derek .... thanks for your note ...You are kind . .I hope to  be posting pics again soon on your Sunny days thread

Hi Imber ... thank you  for that ...I agree ... I should have been more specific and said after the retreat... ...In fact only Arthur fought at Mons  and as The Lincolnshires were acting as rearguard to the 9th Brigade, it was he who was involved in the retreat and survived the fierce fighting at Frameries on 23rd and 24th August. I later found John actually  sailed to France on the 6th September (according to the Roll of 1st Lincs. Regt Officers and NCO's who embarked for France between 4 August 1914 and 23 November  1914 which is held at the Lincoln Record Archives) and not with his brother Arthur, who disembarked at Le Havre on the 13th August 1914. I appreciate  your interest Imber and your thoughtful and tactful post to draw my attention to the error Thanks again.
I have in the last 6 weeks  found out that John Reynolds has been commemorated on a stained glass window in the church in Southrey, Lincolnshire  the village where his wife Amy was born and where they lived for a while.
 It started  with a  call from a cousin who I found online in 2006,  via a well known Family History Site, saying that  she had just seen an article in The Lincolnshire echo that she was sure  related to my husband's grandfather, John Reynolds. She sent us the cuttings from the local paper saying that   the Church had applied for a lottery grant to  have a stained glass window  made to commemorate the  seven soldiers with connections to the village who had died in  the two World Wars. It had a short  paragraph  detailing each soldier with photos of them .
We then found the  telephone number of the lay preacher who had instigated the  request for the window and my husband  phoned her to say he was the grandson of the John Reynolds in question and after the initial shock  was delighted  to invite  us and our son and grandson to the dedication ceremony for the stained glass window that they have  installed. It is in the tiny wooden church ( in the village of Southrey where hubby's mum was born 10 weeks after he father John was killed)  We are so thrilled  and so are they,  that members of John's family are going to be there and it was such a fluke that we found out ... I have attached a pic they sent me of part of the window that has been installed in memory of the 7 young men who have died in war who are connected to the village ( it 's only ever had a maximum of 200 inhabitants ) and now they have found another one, a young marine killed in Afghanistan in 2011 who has links with the village ....so he is on it too. So  we are going to a service to dedicate and bless this window and remember them all ....we are just so thrilled  to be there.. John's grandson , great grandson and his great great grandson.
We went  on  1st  November as it was 100 years exactly to the day since his death, to lay a poppy wreath and saw the window ... It was such a moving  experience and so odd that we got to know about  it as we live 150 miles away.   I just can't believe this is all just coincidence ...  but they do say He moves in mysterious ways don't they ...
 Here is a photo of John Reynolds  taken, we think, when he served  previously to his  1914 call up from the Reserves.

Lest We Forget

[Polldoll]

And a pic of the stained glass window  in the church ... I think it's  just beautiful..

..And a bit about the village ..

http://community.lincolnshire.gov.uk/SouthreyVillageHistory/imageDetail.asp?id=82614

[lydiaann]

I think you have spoken for every one of us who have walked through the cemeteries, big and small, either simply as a visitor or to honour a family member who fell.  I have done both.  Thank you.

lydiaann

[IMBER]

That window is a wonderful medium for remembrance. Very impressive indeed.

Imber

[BumbleB]

Polly:  What a fantastic poem.

Having visited many WW1 memorials and cemeteries in France and Belgium, that really sums it all up.

Thank you.