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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. Robert Arthur Newberry
British Army Essex Regiment
from:61 Milton Road, East London
My grandfather Robert Newberry, whose own grandfather then his father ran the off-licence which was the family home, joined the Essex Regiment at 18 and subsequently fought against the Turks in Mesopotamia. He used to tell me tales of the front, including one I remember where his unit used to pass a dead Turk on leaving their trench, whose hand was raised in rigor mortis. Each of his comrades would shake the hand as they passed, a piece of typical Cockney black humour. I believe this has become a kind of urban myth but he was not one to exaggerate or tell untruths. Another tale was of a wounded Turk not far from his trench crying out to them for help, whom he felt sorry for, but his sergeant gave an order to shoot dead this enemy individual.
He survived the war and eventually took over the off-licence until his retirement around 1970. His most memorable time was during the Blitz in WW2, when the locals all used his cellar as an air-raid shelter. After retirement he and his wife moved into a local flat where they remained until his death in the mid-1970s.
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