235223 Pte. Charles Digby "Dig" Planck British Army 1/7th Btn. London Regiment from:Clapham Park, London Charles Planck was my grandfather, and served with the 7th City of London Regiment in Belgium and France from 1916 to 1918.
He was at the Battle of Messines and the capture of the "White Chateau" amongst numerous other actions, and acted as a stretcher bearer on some occasions.
In his diary of WW1 he records marching past the ruined Cloth Hall in Ypres, and described other well known parts of the Western Front.
In March 1918, CDP was at an area in France known as Welsh Ridge, near the town of La Vacquerie, when he was wounded and taken prisoner. From Red Cross postcards sent to his family, it would seem that they didn't know whether he was alive or dead for several weeks.
After his wounds had healed, he was sent to work on a farm in Germany. When the war ended, CDP and 8 other prisoners walked out of the farm to the nearby town of Romhild, and with the help of some Lifebuoy soap, managed get train tickets to Frankfurt then Paris, arriving back home on Boxing Day.
C D Planck later compiled "The History of the Shiny Seventh" and was presented with a gold half hunter pocket watch by the Regiment, which is still treasured by his family.
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