For many years I had heard from my Grandfather about 'the Trunk'. This was his fathers trunk where all his Great War gear was stored. When he returned from France, his wife understandably took his army clothing and related bits and bobs, put them in the trunk and refused to have it opened in the house.

Her husband, my Great-Grandfather of the Border Regiment, had been shot whilst attacking High Wood on the Somme. Whilst laying on the ground with a bullet wound in his thigh, a German came towards him and bayoneted him in the stomach. Remarkably he survived this encounter and he wrote graphically about seeing his intestines next to him on the ground.

A few weeks ago, I was delighted to be at the opening of the trunk alongside my father and grandfather. Here are the pictures!