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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Gnr. John William Sadler
British Army 28th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
from:Salford, Lancashire
John Sadler enlisted in the British Army in November of 1914, he was wounded on four occasions before being discharged following the Armistice on the 11th November 1918. His army records show that he served with the 28th Siege Battery for most of his enlisted term but appears to have been transferred to a heavy Battery sometime during 1918.
Only two amusing anecdotes were often related within the family, as follows:
During the first days of training a new Sgt Major was gathering many hundreds of troops on the parade ground, as the men almost settled into their respective alphabetical groups, determined by the first letter of their surname, the Sgt Major eyed one man dashing about trying to locate his group, and barked out what was his surname, the man replied 'Phillips' Sgt Major, to which the Sgt quickly pointed to a group and shouted "the F's are that group there man".
After Armistice day there were millions of men waiting to be transported back to England, and the army was not going to have men idle and it was determined to keep them occupied during the waiting period. Officers from their respective battalions were told to organise men under their control into a variety of work parties, filling in shell holes on the roads or clearing destroyed buildings and the like. The group of men from Gnr Sadler's Siege Battery were being called to gather around an officer who then asked were any musicians among the troops, many hands were raised and men called out the instrument they played, and the chap standing next to my grandfather told him to put up his hand, if the officer asked what instrument he played, simply tell him he played the triangle, after all it was better than filling in shell holes or similar hard work. Having collected about a dozen so called musicians, the officer marched them to the home of a local mayor where they were told it was not their musical talents that were required, it was to physically move an iron frame Grand Piano two hundred yards to the village hall for use in an up-coming official gathering by the locals to say thank you and goodbye to the troops.
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