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Sapper Sydney James Waghorne
Royal Engineers 1/1 Kent Field Company
from:Tonbrigde
Sydney James Waghorne enlisted with the 1/1st Kent Royal Engineers on 10/19/1914 at the age of 19. After training, on October 15th 1915, their field company was sent to Egypt and then on to Gallipoli attached to the 2nd Mounted Division. He was one of many evacuated in December with dysentery and recovered in Malta and then Gibraltar. Released by the Army doctors on 9/11/1916, Sydney was reassigned to the Western Front near the Somme River. His main duty was laying and keeping communications lines opened between the front and G.H.Q. While repairing 1 line up on a pole, a German shell exploded at the base and blew him off the pole. It was joked by his buddies that the only reason he didn't suffer serious injury or even death, was because he landed on his head. Sydney served until 2/22/1919. He moved to Wichita Falls, Texas to seek his fortune. Eventually, he moved his widow mom and 5 sisters there to live with him. During the Great War, Sydney passed time writing poetry, drawing cartoons of his commander.
