Sunday 20 August 2017

Thoughts on “Your’re in the army now”



There is nothing like writing about a topic to make you take a closer look at the information you already have. I learned so much going through the research I had already done on George Welch. I had no idea where he had been until I wrote a timeline of his ten-year stint. Further research added depth to my understanding of what he would have faced where he was posted. 
 
Of course, now I want to know more. I also have another place to visit on my wish list, Winchester. Who knows what more information could be found there at the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum? The museum also has the added attraction of being housed in the Peninsula Barracks, the home of the 60th Rifles in Winchester, where George Welch once lived. 

There is nothing like visiting the ground where your ancestors once trod. Speaking of which, in the book Army Records: a Guide for Family Historians, William Spencer talks about media interest in families, successive generations of men, who have served in the same places during the various Afghan Wars.* Now there would be a true case of following in your father’s footsteps. That passage in his book made me realized there was a connection in my own family, not to the Afghan Wars but to being sent to serve where previous generations in your family had served. My father, George Welch’s grandson, spent part of his WWII service in India. I wonder if he knew that his grandfather had been there before him? It shows that we are connected to the past in more ways than we may be aware of. 

 Sources:

http://rgjmuseum.co.uk/ 



Spencer, William. Army Records: A Guide for Family Historians. The National Archives, Kew, 2008 *p 10

 

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