206217 2nd Lt. Leslie William Hawkins British Army 6th Battalion Notts & Derby Regiment from:Wanstead, London Leslie Hawkins was my Grandpa. He enlisted in the Second County of London Yeomanry in December 1915. He transferred to the Machine Gun Corps in August 1917, then Kings Own Royal Lancs. Then after a discharge, he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant of the 6th Battalion in the Sherwood Foresters in March 1918. He saw action at Bellenglise, Sambre-Oise Canal and Cambria. He survived, resigned his commission in 1922.
Apparently he rarely talked about the horrors. He died at 80, but sadly being too young to know, I never got a chance to talk to him, recognise what he had done or really appreciated his experience in his presence. Clearly an extraordinary man but also in my memory, good to be around. Gone but never forgotten.
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