2014-03-03

8,000 and counting

The Europeana 1914-1918 collection now has over 8,000 live stories, contributed by members of the public from across the world! All the stories and accompanying images can be explored for free at http://europeana1914-1918.eu.

Here is an extract from the 8001st story to go live:

Joseph Lee, No 50042/1023907 Dublin
By Peter Lee, http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/14008

Joseph Lee in Bangalore, India prior to WW1 
By Peter Lee  CC BY-SA
My Grandfather, Joseph Lee was born in Chapelizod, Co Dublin in 1886. Orphaned at a young age he served an apprenticeship as a shoeing smith with the Donnelly family of Portmarnock.
In March 1908, Joseph joined the Royal Field Artillery of the British Army. He served in India from 1909 until the outbreak of war in 1914, when as part of the 7th Meerut Division, Indian Expedition Force, he was sent to France/Flanders. Here, The 7th Meerut fought in the battles of La Bassee, Messines, Armentieres, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Festubert and Loos.
Then in the early 1916 Joseph and the 7th Meerut were sent to Mesopotamia.
(...)
To read the rest of the story and see what happend to Joseph, go to http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/14008.