231779 Spr. William Thompson Allen British Army 121st. Field Coy. Royal Engineers from:Belfast Willie Allen was severely wounded by shrapnel during the Somme offensive in 1916. As an older man and a very heavy smoker, he was diagnosed as having lung cancer following an X-ray. As he appeared to be recovering, a further X-ray showed the cancer to be shrapnel which he was still carrying from 1916! Like many men who served in the trenches he rarely spoke about the war, however, during a bout of fever my father remembers him reliving the worst of the trenches as if it was happening all over again.
Fortunately, I still have his tunic buttons, cap badge, wounded stripe and lots of photos of him taken during the war. My most precious keepsakes, however, are several panoramic pictures of his Company (121st. RE, 36th Ulster Division) taken during training and a lovely piece of shellart produced by a German POW which he appears to have become friendly with in France.
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