The War To End All Wars

My story of the journal has been two years in the making. Once I read my grandfather's letter about the promise he didn't keep, the idea of trying to keep that promise seemed to come to me naturally. I figured that with the amount of information available through the Internet it wouldn't be difficult to track down three British soldiers. I didn't realize the complexity of the British military system, especially the muster roll call of the batteries within the Royal Field Artillery. I had, what I thought, was the names of two of the three, and the last and nickname of the third soldier.

After initial research proved nonproductive I started to realize that my project was going to be more difficult then I first thought. Bramwell seemed my best chance of success so I focused on finding "George Bramwell". Months of researching military records I discovered that George Bramwell was really Percy Bramwell. I have no clue why my grandfather used the name George instead of Percy but he did.

I thought that I might be able to find Pudgie Taylor if I found the muster of the 43 brigade and with luck Bobby Glue might be found. Without success, the thought occurred to me that perhaps the other two soldiers may have served in another battery or brigade. If this was the case ,my chances of finding them would be next to impossible. I posted my problem on the "Great War Forum". and with unbelievable efficiency the experts posted that they found 27 soldiers that died during the first battle of Ypres with the last name of Taylor;.  They further narrowed down the choices to a few that served in the field artillery. It was great news except I didn't have any further information about Pugie so it was impossible to say which Taylor might be the correct one. Bobby Glue either was a nickname or a fabrication because no one was able to locate a soldier by that name.

So after two years of researching I found one soldier and I was able to contact  one of his distant relatives. I inform him of George "Percy" Bramwell's demise thus completing one promise. Once I publish my book, perhaps a relative of one of the other two soldiers might come forward.