Phil Sutters' photos with the keyword: A Hereford family in the military

Uploaded for the Vintage Photos Theme Park 'telephones' week. Howard was my grandfather. He is the one lounging back in his shirt-sleeves. I guess that this was taken while training in England. These troops would eventually be formed into the Royal Corps of Signals. They laid thousands of miles of telephone cables along and between the trenches in France and Belgium. I know that he was at the battle of Ypres, but little else about his war.

Howard's comrades, who appear to have signed the back of this card-mounted photo, are: Bert Honnor , J.M.Corrie*, N.O.Grant, F.M.Pepper*, O.Evans, W.F.Jenkins, R.J.Bridgeland and H.Macmillan. *These names are a little indistinct and may not be correctly spelt here. The blue and white armbands indicated that they were signallers. While that made them easily identifiable by officers needing to transmit messages and orders, it could also put them at risk from snipers who aimed to disrupt their enemies' communications.

The location and date are written on the back of the photo. Percy Pritchard was at the back, in front of the shop's doorway. The caption is mine.

This is a cropped version of a very small print - this section is probably about 2cm square! As far as I have worked out, Percy started in the 1st Hereford's. He suffered from frostbite in the Dardanelles campaign. He was in hospital on Malta at the end of 1915. He then seems to have served in the Camel Corps in Egypt and ended the war in the Royal Flying Corps.

My grandfather Howard Sadler, on the left, presumably in France or Belgium, in 1917, with a friend called Wilkie. He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, that was his rank. He was a signaller, as shown by the blue and white armband. He communicated between units and their commanders using Morse code. This has been added to the Vintage Photos Theme Park for the 'pals, buddies etc.' theme.

Uploaded for the Vintage Photo Theme Park - 'boots' theme. This was taken while he was a dispatch rider at the Allied Headquarters near Cairo, during WW1.

I wonder if the kink in the starboard wing was damage or shows where the structure was jointed for folding for transport.

When the Second World War came, Percy's glider skills saw him commissioned in the Royal Air Force and posted to train assault glider pilots.