To a missing soldier of the great war. I do not know you but I would have liked to have known you. You were a brother in arms with my paternal grandfather. My paternal grandfather, John Elson Carpenter, served with the Somerset Light Infantry in the war and lost his life at St. Quentin, Northern France on 23/03/1918 - The German Spring Offensive. He is one of the missing and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France. He came from the Isle of Wight. Many Isle of Wight men served in the Hampshire Regiment (8th Battalion - Princess Beatrice's I.O.W. Rifles) and saw action in Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine. You nobly gave your life so that future generations could live theirs. Your campaign, the Gallipoli Campaign, was considered militarily to be a sound tactical plan by Winston Churchill who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. Although considered political opinion is divided on the strategy it turned out to be a disaster. We owe you a great debt of gratitude which we will never be able to repay. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE! " At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."
Barry Carpenter