Pupils learn what life was like in trenches during First World War

CHILDREN at a Henley school learned what life was like for soldiers in the First World War.

Amateur historian Mike Willoughby, from Woodcote, visited Trinity Primary School in Vicarage Road and talked to year one and two pupils.

He showed them pieces of equipment that a typical soldier would carry, including rations, a gas mask, helmets and a bayonet.

Mr Willoughby, who founded the Lest We Forget project with his wife Lesley in 2014 to honour fallen servicemen, was dressed in a replica uniform of a soldier, or “Tommy”, and talked about what life in the trenches would have been like.

In 2014 Mr Willoughby published Bringing Them Home, which commemorated 298 local men who lost their lives in the First World War. This was dedicated to his great uncle, Rifleman Arthur John (Jack) King, who was killed in action on July 8, 1916, aged 20.

Mr Willoughby said Jack had died at the Somme, although his body was unidentified and he had no known grave. This made him realise there were thousands of unidentified soldiers who had died.

He discovered 107 men from the Henley area who were not named on the war memorial on the town hall.

He started Lest We Forget, which was funded by the Henley Standard, the National Lottery and donations from the public, to create a new memorial with all the names.

In fact, three memorials were created, one at the town hall and two others at Holy Trinity Church and St Mary’s Church.

Mr Willoughby showed the children various original and replica artefacts, including a short magazine Lee-Enfield rifle and bullets with the original bayonet and barbed wire cutter that fitted on to the end of it.

He said that a soldier in the trenches would eat, sleep and drink around this gun and always kept it clean.

This was well represented in the 1989 TV comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth, which ended with the soldiers “going over the top”.

Mr Willoughby said that the first time he watched this he laughed but all subsequent times he cried as he realised it was what his great uncle had been through.

He showed the children the homemade “hard tack” he had prepared in imitation of the dry, hard biscuits the soldiers were given to eat.

He also explained the origin of the word “chatting”, saying that soldiers in the trenches were often bored and would spend most of their time smoking, drinking tea and “chatting”, meaning removing lice or “chats” from each other.

Mr Willoughby said the men had been led to believe that the war would be over by Christmas and they would just have to “give the Hun a quick spanking”.

Of the men from Henley who died, the youngest was 17, the oldest 49. Two-thirds were single and 70 were married. It was highly likely that many had been virgins, a testament to their youth and innocence. Mr Willoughby said: “When I started the Lest We Forget project, I pointed out that each one was a mother’s son.

“I have done my best for the last 12 years and each day I add more information. In 2000, no one knew who the men were and now they know through my project. It was my own choice to do this, I’ve made no money from it. When someone asks about a relative who may have died, I do my best.”

To find out more information about his great uncle, who lived in Andover, he trawled through documents at the Winchester records office.

Mr Willoughby said: “The bloke next to me must have thought I was having a fit when I found Jack. I still get emotional talking about it now. I couldn’t believe it.”

Last year, he published his second book, Bringing Them Home Too, which honours more than 250 service personnel from the Henley area who lost their lives in the Second World War.