YOU can't help thinking it will take us the whole year to honour all those soldiers who fought in the Great War, such was the scale of the sacrifice they made.
But it is also good to know that so many places, both official and unofficial, are making sure their stories are not forgotten.
We have now been contacted by Caroline Budden and Chuck Wilmott who have helped put together a website with information on the men from Loders who lost their lives in World War I and World War II.
Mrs Budden said: “We started this research with a view to completing it in time for the centenary of the start of WW1.
“Our website is accessed through the website of the parish magazine which is 'Eggardon and Colmer's View'.”
The project is still on-going and the researchers are particularly anxious to find photographs of all of the men.
She added: “We hope that the Bridport News may be able to reach a wider readership and enable us to obtain photographs of the following men.”
Albert John Travers, born 1893, died 22 September 1914 Wilfred Gordon Russell, born 1893, died 8 May 1915 Thomas Charles Taylor, born 1884, died 12 October 1915 William John Lee, born 1875, died 31 May 1916 Frederick John Bartlett, 1897, died 21 February 1918 George William John Read (known as Jack), born 1899, died 23 March 1918 Frederick Clark, died 24 April 1918) Also from WW2 Tom Norman, born 1919, died 1 March 1940 George Holmes, born 1920, died 14 April 1940.
With their permission we are telling the stories they have researched.
This week the spotlight is on three of the men.
Wilfred Gordon Russell who was baptised in Loders Church on 11 May 1893. He was the son of Eli and Mary Ann, nee Samways.
Eli Russell was a butcher. In the 1901 census Wilfred Russell is recorded as being age eight and living with his parents and two sisters at the butcher's shop in Loders.
In the 1911 census Wilfred Russell is aged 18 and living at 38 Loders, he was single and working as a butcher. He was living with his parents Eli, 62, Mary Ann, 48, and sisters Hilda Maud, 20 and Dorothy Anna, 14.
Wilfred enlisted in the army in Pinner, Middlesex. He was a Private in the East Surrey Regiment 2nd Battalion service no. 3341. He was killed in action on 8 May 1915 in France and Flanders. His burial place is recorded as at Ypres (Ieper) West Flanders, (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium and there is also a memorial to him in Loders Churchyard.
He died during the second Battle of Ypres. On that date it is recorded that the British lost Frezenberg Ridge under terrific shelling.
The second is Walter 'Louis' Fry who was baptised on 7 March 1897 in Litton Cheney.
His father was George Fry and his mother was Annie Charlotte Fry.
The 1901 census shows him aged four and living with his parents in Long Bredy. His father was aged 33, his mother 25 and his brother Horace was one.
The 1911 census shows Walter Louis Fry aged 14 and attending school. He was living at Uploders Farm with his parents George, 42, a farmer and Annie Charlotte, 36 and brothers and sisters Horace Roland, 11, Dorothy Irene, 8, Frederick George, 2 and Douglas Oliver, 10 months.
Louis emigrated to Canada to join his father when he was aged 16. He travelled on the Cunard ship 'Ascania'. He arrived in Quebec on 19 May 1913.
He was travelling on to Ontario to work as a dairy farmer.
Soon after arrival he enlisted in the Canadian Infantry as a Private in the Western Ontario Regiment 1st battalion, Service Number 6682.
He returned to England prior to embarking for the front. He died of a wound at the No.1 Casualty Clearing Station on 29 May 1915 aged 18 and was buried the same day. A cross was erected and his grave reference is I.C.82 in the Chocques Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais.
Walter 'Stanley' Brown was born in 1888 and baptised in Loders Church on 10 April 1888. His father was William and his mother Julia.
He is recorded in the 1891 census as aged three and living in Loders with his parents William, 27, Julia, 35, and sisters Florence Adala, 6 and Jesse, 1 .
Thomas Norman, 82, was a visitor. In the 1901 census he is recorded as aged 13 and living at Uploders with his parents and three sisters.
In 1911 he is aged 23 and a single man, living in Uploders and working as a blacksmith. He is living with his parents William, 62, Julia, 54 and Ellen Patten, 56, a relative. His father was working as a builder and wheelwright.
Stanley Brown was a Private in the Dorsetshire Regiment 5th Battalion service no.10891. He was killed in action at Gallipoli.
He was buried in Gallipoli, Canakkale, Turkey. He also has a memorial in Loders churchyard.
Stanley Brown enlisted between 1-8 September 1914. His occupation was given as a blacksmith. He left Liverpool on 2 July 1915 on the liner 'Aquitaine' for the Dardanelles, arriving in Limnos on 11 July 1915; moved to Imbres 19 July; landed Suvla Bay 'A' beach on 6 August.
At 3pm on 21 August the battalion took part in an attack on Hetman Chair to capture Turkish positions and this involved a 500 yard advance over open ground under very heavy fire.
The first line of trenches was taken, the Turks retiring to a support line. The second line was attacked, but heavy fire from the left flank forced a withdrawal to the captured first line. Losses on the 21st amounted to more than killed, wounded or missing out of around 550 who took part. Stanley Brown was one of the men who sacrificed his life on that day.
Battle for Gallipoli February 1915-January 1916 Aiming to secure a sea route to Russia, the British and French launched a naval campaign to force a passage through the Dardanelles. After the naval campaign, an amphibious landing was undertaken on the Gallipoli peninsula, to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul). After eight months the land campaign also failed with many casualties on both sides, and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt. The Battle of Scimitar Hill which ran alongside the Battle of Hill 60 on 21 August 1915 comprised a last ditch effort by the Allied force under Mediterranean Commander-in-Chief Sir Ian Hamilton to break north from Anzac Cove and N and E of Sulvia Bay thus linking the 5 km distance between the two sectors.
In the wake of the failure of the Allied attacks at Scimitar Hill and Hill 60 the evacuation beginning 21 August 2015 intended to link the two Allied sectors of Anzac Cove and Sulvia Bay, Mediterranean Commander Sir Ian Hamilton telegraphed London in a state of increasing despondency. He requested a further 95,000 reinforcements from Lord Kitchener. He was offered 25,000.
Hamilton received word on 11 October 1915 of the proposed evacuation. He estimated casualties would run at up to 50 per cent.
He was replaced by Sir Charles Munro who recommended evacuation. Lord Kitchener did not agree but then visited and changed his mind and recommended evacuation on 15 November 1915. The government sanctioned evacuation on 7 December 1915. Evacuation continued until 9 January 1916.
There were 480,000 Allied troops who had participated in the Gallipoli campaign. There were 252,000 casualties -of these 48,000 were fatalities. Following the evacuation the Allies continued to block Mediterranean access to the Dardanelles Straits until Turkey's collapse and exit from the war in October 1918.
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