255872 Gerald Herbert Betts British Army 3rd Btn. Northamptonshire Regiment My Grandfather, Gerald Betts was wounded and lay in a ditch for hours unable to walk. The cold caused the blood on his wound to freeze, which probably saved his life.
He was found by a German patrol and taken to a German field hospital, where his wound was treated, and afterwards, was taken to a prisoner of war camp.
He was returned to England before the war ended, and was invalided out of the service. Whilst he and another wounded prisoner were in a station waiting room, awaiting train to be sent back to England, the other prisoner knocked the nose off a bust of the Kaiser which was on a shelf. When questioned by German soldiers as to who had damaged the bust, the Tommy immediately owned up. He was taken out of the waiting room, and my grandfather was put onto the train. He never saw the man again!
Gerald went on to live well into his 90's, before dying in Finedon.
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