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Pte. David Cant
British Army 9th Battalion Suffolk Regiment
from:Wickhambrook, Suffolk
Grandad David Cant was born in Wickhambrook in 1889, out of wedlock. I don't know who his father was. He had a younger half-sister, Alice. He married Effie Clarke in June 1921 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. They had two children, both girls, during their marriage, I am the son of the younger. He died in 1962 in Soham, Cambridgeshire, aged 72.
He enlisted in Kitchener's New Army, in the 9th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and sent to fight in France, landing at Boulogne on 31st of August 1915. In September, he was engaged in the Battle of Loos. Grandad suffered typical wounds of WW1, shrapnel in his shoulder, trench feet, exposure to gas, and shell shock. It's only now, looking back, that I realise the extent of his trauma even into old age. Grandad never learned to read or write. Even in his last years he would say "The only good German is a dead 'un". I wish I had been old enough (I was 12 when he died) to talk maturely with him, and have a pint with him at the pub.
