206851 Pte. Ernest Whitehead British Army 1/8th Btn Sherwood Foresters from:Hawton My father, Ernest Whitehead, enlisted in October 1914 and lost an arm whilst serving in France in 1916. He subsequently became a postman, the only disabled postman I have ever come across. He served as a postman for 29 years.
My father, who was a farm waggoner, enlisted on 22nd October 1914 and served with the 1/8th Sherwood Foresters in France from 6th June 1915 to 25th April 1916. He returned to the UK after losing his right arm just below the elbow. He would never talk about that time and I don't even know the circumstances in which he was wounded.
It looks likely that he lost his arm on the 15th or 16th April in the trenches east of Berthonual farm near Mt St Eloy.
It is interesting that, until I unearthed it, even my mother didn't know that it was the second time he had been wounded (Aug 1915). After a period in Roehampton Hospital and discharge he became a Postman in October 1919, a job he held down until he was retired at 60 in 1949.
An amusing aside - My father had two artificial arms complete with hand. One for everyday use and one for “bestâ€. When my father died he was buried wearing his “best†artificial arm and hand. My mother could not decide what to do with the other arm and hand. The NHS did not want them back and she could not face putting them in the dustbin. So for whatever reason decided to bury them in her garden. We chuckled but Mum couldn’t understand what we found so funny. We could picture the scene years later when some poor person digging in the garden found a hand and arm emerging. What a shock.
Apart from discharge papers etc. I have nothing from my father's time in WW1.
The little Dad said: He said once with a chuckle about the Belgians running along the trench and shouting " La Boche La Boche". He said that he had been to Armentiers when the song "Mademoiselle from Armentiers Parlez Vous" was on the wireless. My sister says that our father was in hospital with gassed Canadians. He mentioned this once while watching All Quiet on the Western Front. My sister also says that when he lost his right arm a shell burst in the trench and killed all the men by him including someone he enlisted with.
For other family connections in WW1 see www.whiteheadm.co.uk
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