254027 Pte. Herbert John Aslett British Army 7th Btn. Royal Fusilliers from:West Dean, Chichester I remember my grandfather, Herbert J Aslett well.
He did not want to say much about the first world war. He did tell me about being at the Battle of the Somme and his Battalion lost a lot men. He told me he lay in the mud playing dead as the the German troops bayoneted any wounded soldiers if they cried out.
When the Germans had passed by, Bert got a wounded British soldier back to the British lines.
He was discharged the 8th of August 1918, aged 21 with shell shock.
My grandfather was a brave man. He was a farm worker and he could only see out of one eye as he was hit in the eye by a boy throwing and apple at him as a child. He did not have to enlist in the army.
When he died in 1976, aged 79, we found his war medals from the war department. They had never been opened and we like brand new.
I still have his medals and value them greatly.
Regards to all the brave men and women who lost their lives so we can live in freedom.
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