GREAT WAR SERVICE

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1934, Page 15

GREAT WAR SERVICE

THREE GENERATIONS. MAJOR AND GRANDSON. The remarkable war service of three generations of a family was described at a meeting of the Society of Genealogists in London recently. Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Leslie, formerly hon. editor of the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, stated that in the audience was Briga-dier-General R. T. H. Law, who possessed the medals of his- grandfather arid his father in addition to his own. The medals represented ' atnong . others the battles arid campaigns of Corunna,, Waterloo, Crimea, India, Zululand,” South Africa, and the Great War..

Brigqdier-General Law, who is 78 years of age, in response to requests from the audience, told something of his •family’s history. “Some of the happiest recollections of my boyhood days’are

those of sitting on my grandfather’s knee and listening to his stories of the’Peninsular War,” he said, “In those days the fighting only took place in the • summer time. My grandfather told nie that when they retired to their winter quarters the troops used to draw a line of sentries along the riverside. The French were on the other side of the river. The English, having more provisions and tobacco, used to throw snacks and plugs of tobacco across to them, arid, in exchange, tjie Frepph threw over bottles of wine. “That is rather different from what happened’ in the last war, although ’in the, first Christmas some of tlie German regiments fraternised with our men pn the outposts. This was stopped at once, Kawever, because it was considered to be not altogether war.” : The speaker said that his grandfather was badly wounded in the Battle of Waterloo. He was brigade major, and a round shot took a piece out of the calf of his leg. "What was thrilling to me,” said Brigadier-General Law, “was, when 1 went out in the Great War, to gq through some of the towns and villages i of Belgium through which my grand-

father had passed in the army a hundred years before.” A Voice—Facing the other way. (Laughter.), . ’ Brigadier-General Law—Yes, luckily we. did face the other way and stopd our ground. (Applausj.)