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Pte. Albert Hilton Gate
British Army Westmoreland & Cumberland Yeomanry
from:Port Carlisle, Cumberland
My grandfather, Albert Gate didn't talk too much about his war. He was one of three stepbrothers from an estate on the Solway Forth in Cumberland. He was born on 28 March 1899 and on the outbreak of war joined up and, coming from a farm with horses, joined the mounted Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry. At some stage he was dismounted and joined the 2nd Lincolns. The next part of the story I know was that he was in Dublin during the Easter uprising and was a sniper and at some time was on the roof of the Post Office doing his job.
He moved to France and I know he was gassed three times and shelled and injured three times. One of the times he was shelled in no-man's-land and was wounded in the arm by an exploding whizz-bang. The guy next to him was killed. The last solid thing I know was he was transferred to what became the 3rd Battle of the Aisne positions and was one of the 30 survivors after the German attack. On page 302 of his book "Battle of the Somme" he has recorded this in the margin. He and his two stepbrothers all went to war, all were wounded and all survived. I met both of them with my grandfather at a family funeral in the 1970's.
