Page 32 - The Spirit of Christmas 1940

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DELVILLE WOOD
It was a particularly quiet night at Church Street, the nightly air
raids had passed some distance away and the station was relieved
to be able to close down in relatively normal circumstance.
Everybody had returned home for the night and the station was
now empty and at peace, apart from one. William Snow.

William was sat on the bench by Platform 1. He didn’t notice
the cold, winter air creeping in around him. In fact, physically, he
felt very little anymore. Only the pain in his mind remained.

His thoughts drifted back to days gone by in a hope that an
answer could be found somewhere in his memory. Much of
his past, he could remember with absolute clarity. He could
remember his parents, going to school, joining up with his friends
in Stafford. He remembered sailing out of Southampton to go
across to France. He could remember the excitement of wanting
to be a hero and being part of the British Army. The good guys.
He didn’t know what the future held but he wanted to be part of it.
It was his duty.

He had joined the 11th Battalion. the Rifle Brigade (The Prince
Consorts Own) in 1914. But it wasn’t until July the following
year before he would depart for France, landing at Boulogne-
sur-Mer ready for service on the Western Front. It had been a
good year before the Battalion departed, enjoying the Hampshire

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