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Pte. Herbert William Marple
British Army North Staffordshire Regiment
from:Wolverhampton
On 9th of June 1914, HerbertMarple, celebrated his 16th birthday by signing up to the North Staffordshire Regiment. He was too young to do active service, but two years later he was transferred to the Leicestershire Regiment, and like so many boys of his age, went off on an adventure to serve for his King & Country.
He fought in the Battle of the Somme, but was captured and imprisoned. Whilst a prisoner, he had the bridge of his nose smashed in by a guard who found him scavenging for food in the prison bins. He escaped from captivity by hiding himself in a coal truck, and immediately returned to fight on the front lines at Ypres. After the war, like millions of other survivors he never spoke about his terrible ordeal, or of the horrific things he must have experienced as a POW or during battle.
Herbert was my grandfather. Probably no different to millions of other teenagers who signed up to fight 100 years ago, a normal bloke. I never met him, he died before I was born, but by all accounts he was a thoroughly decent husband and father. I know he played the bugle as well as the drums, so I obviously share his likeness for loud, noisy instruments! Many of his other skills have been passed down through the genes, and show up in me at various times. Like his skill for escaping shows up in me whenever there is washing up to be done. His habit of scavenging for food, every time I walk past a Chip shop (I rarely walk past without entering). His impact on the world was probably not enormous, but I bet he would never have dreamt he would influence peoples lives for two minutes about a hundred years later. After all, if he had not escaped from that prison you wouldn't be reading this.
