[Dartskipper]

The 1914-18 War changed a lot of lives, and I wouldn't be here if my Australian Grandfather hadn't got wounded somewhere on the Western Front and met and married his nurse in hospital in England. Another chap who became my Great Uncle was an Englishman who emigrated to South Africa in 1913. He was a surveyor by profession and went to work for South African Railways. (He also at a later date did the preliminary surveys for the Kariba Dam project.)He was also a semi-professional footballer who had played for Clapton Orient, (now Orient ex Leyton Orient) and joined West Ham United for the 1912 season. He volunteered at the start of the War and was allocated to the South African Heavy Artillery and his batallion supported the Royal Artillery regiments on the Western Front. His wound cost him one of his legs, and he ended up in the same hospital as my future grandad. He married my Grandma's older sister. I never met him, but did meet his widow when she returned to England after his passing in around 1960.