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233938
Lt Leonard Priestley CdeG, MID
British Army Royal Field Artillery
from:Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland
Leonard Priestley was my grandfather, my mother's father. He joined the British Army in 1899 as a 15 year old. He went on to become a Lieutenant and fought in the Front Line in France in WW1. He won four medals, including the Croix de Guerre from the French Government for acts of bravery. He is mentioned on a Despatch from the King and signed by Winston S Churchill. He survived the war and came back to live in Cork in Ireland to his wife, Bridget, and brought his horse with him. He died aged 53 in 1938, allegedly of shaking disease, probably a brain tumour as he had many injuries during the war. I have his war foot locker, his medals, his despatch document, his field binoculars, two bayonets, one French and one German that he brought home as souvenirs and his pickle fork, cheese knife and nutcracker that he brought with him all through the war. I have copies of some of his war records