251634 Pte. Charles George Gardiner British Army 1st Btn. Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers from:Coolsallagh,Dromore, Co Down, Ireland This is my Great Grandfather. He signed up in October 1899, and joined the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers at Omagh on 14th October 1899.
His service records show that they were mobilised at Omagh on 5th of August 1914.
He was in France from 23rd of August 1914 to 25th of August 1914 and taken
POW on the 26th of August 1914, he was held until the end of the war and was repatriated on the 15th of December 1914 and demobbed on 20th of March 1919.
He served for a total of 19 years 161 days.
From another source I have been able to establish that he received a wound to his thigh and was held at a hospital in Crefield for a time.
The entry reads;
Gardiner, Charles, Priv. Inf. Oberschenkel. Ros. Laz.2. Crefield.
(Oberschenkel is German for Thigh).
The source informed me that his Battalion had been engaged at Esnes, France, then moved back to Le Catelet on the 26th of August 1914. He appears to have been left behind when the Battalion retreated.
He never spoke about his time in the war.
I remember when we visited his daughters house in Belfast, he was always sitting in the chair beside the fire, with a pipe.
He passed away in January 1971
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