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Spr. Sydney St.James Waghorne
British Army 1/1st Kent Field Coy. Royal Engineers
from:Tonbridge
Sydney Waghorne, my Grandfather, enlisted on October 19th 1914 at the age of 19 years. His brother and him joined the 1/1st Kent Field Royal Engineers. Their first action was in October 1915 Gallipoli. While shipping over to the war front from Malta, the HMS Hythe was sunk during tragic accident. My grandfather lost many of his childhood friends even before he saw enemy. By the time he reached Sulva Bay, Gallipoli had already become a lost cause.
As a lineman for communications, it was a nightmare. The lines were in the trenches with the men often being trampled on and broken. Dysentery was decimating the troops and a surprise winter storm and days of rain, many died. During the evacuation in mid December, grandfather was one of those affected loaded until a hospital ship and taken back to Malta and then Gibraltar to recover from Dysentery.
Due to the tragedy of the HMS Hythe, he was reassigned to the 1/3rd Kent Field Company as a replacement under the London Signal Corp and the 29th Division. During the Battle of Ypres he was injured by a German shell while repairing a line. After another brief stay in the hospital, he served out the reminder of the war and marched into Germany with the 29th Division. He served 4 years and 127 days and earned the British 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal. Months after the war, he set sail to Canada and eventually settled in Wichita Falls, Texas until his day of passing in 1950.
