The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

247496 Pte. John Joseph Henry "Topper" White British Army Home Guard from:Brentwood, Essex My Grandfather, John White joined the Army at Stratford on the 25th July 1901 at the age of 18 years, 8 months old. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, as a Bandsman Drummer. His Regimental number was 6503 and he carried this number within the 2nd Boer War, where he gained the Queens South Africa Medal and 2 clasps- Cape Colony and Orange Free State to when the numbers were changed in 1920, when it was changed to 5998017. On return from the Boer War, John was posted to India. He served throughout the 1st World War in the 2nd Battalion and was gassed on the Somme gaining all three medals. He earned 2 good conduct chevrons and was awarded a marksman's badge too. Family stories have been told that John was also a stretcher bearer, as Drummers were reported to have been and he also played the cornet, as again, Drummers would have had to do. John was discharged from his career in the army on the 5th July 1922 as being no longer fit for war service, due to his chest problems resulting from being gassed on the Somme. However, John did not let this stop him becoming a Special Constable for over 10 years, where he lived in Brentwood, Essex. At the outbreak of WW2 he joined the Home Guard and won the WW2 Defence Medal. John married and had 4 Sons. John died from complications after being gassed on the Somme resulting in his death in 1950, aged 67 his death certificate stating that his cause of death was (1) emphysema, (2) chronic Bronchitis (3) Gassed on the Somme. Add to this record.  Related Content: The Home Guard Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.