The First World War as seen by a Witney postman

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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THE EXTRAORDINARY tale of a soldier from the First World War is being remembered following the publication of his memoirs.

Walter Young witnessed unimaginable horrors during the war – horrors even his family were not aware of until they discovered his diaries in the attic of their Witney home last year.

As of this week, his granddaughter Hilary Pillin has had the memoirs entitled Walter’s War printed by Lion Books publishers, with 400 copies already sold online.

She said: “If my grandfather were here now, I think he’d be completely overwhelmed – he could never have imagined that people across the world would be reading his story.

He was a normal person just like any of us, yet his story resonates with so many.”

After growing up in Witney, Walter served with the Post Office Rifles (47th Division, 8th London Regiment) from the age of 26 in March 1915, until he was captured by the Germans three years later.

His job was to run out through the barbed wire into No Man’s Land and rescue wounded soldiers from shell holes while under heavy fire at Bullecourt, France.

Alan Johnson MP, who wrote the foreword of the book, has stated that he felt a connection with the memoirs, having also worked as a postman for the majority of his working life.

He said: “It’s an amazing memoir, which described what it was actually like for a quiet, modest, God-fearing postman to be plunged into the blood and carnage of trench warfare...what terrible experiences, and what a remarkable man.”

In one his most honest diary entries, Walter described how he was shot through his helmet but the bullet miraculously missed his head.

He was consequently captured and sent to work in a Prussian coal mine.

Ms Pillin said: “He referred to the Prussian coal mine as the lowest point of his life.

“I think that writing the memoirs was a form of therapy for him, because he was understandably psychologically damaged by what happened during the war.”

When the war ended, Walter resumed his job at the General Post Office and died aged 68 in 1957.

Ms Pillin said: “It’s important that the stories of those that fought for our country are never forgotten.

“Without people like my grandfather, Britain might not be the way it is today.”
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Walter’s War is now available on Amazon for £9.98.

[Hillyp]

Thank you for posting this article about my grandfather, Walter Young. I just wanted to correct an inaccuracy in the Witney Gazette reporting in that Walter grew up in Islington, London (not Witney, Oxfordshire) and lived there all his life, working at the King Edward Post Office Building in Holborn as a sorter and in later years worked in the Official Section sorting Government mail. The line about Bullecourt refers to an episode following which Walter was awarded the Military Medal for bravery.

It was amazing that he survived the duration of the war and even more incredible that he left such a detailed and revealing record of his experiences with the Post Office Rifles - known as The Terriers in the Trenches.

I hope you and colleagues in the Post Office / Royal Mail enjoy reading them.

Lest we forget.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning WE WILL REMEMBER them.


Many thanks for visiting.