The Wildgoose Chase

I met Chelsea Pensioner Walter Wildgoose in 1977 when he was 87 and I was 26. Through a series of letters written over the last year of his life, he passed along his life story - the workhouse children's home, a life in the British Army witnessing the opening battles of World War I and life in India, a remarkable family surviving the bombs of World War II London. This blog will document my research and progress on the novel I'm writing about this amazing man.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

90th Anniversary of Armistice: November 11, 2008

A tribute to the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I on this 11 day of November 2008. According to Walter's letters, he was "in Rugeley Camp in Staffordshire when the Armistice was declared."

Thank you for serving your country and the world, Walter. I'm glad you survived it all.

Bookmark and Share
posted by MaryB @ 11:55 AM  

2 Comments:

  • At 1:50 AM , Blogger petercmoore said...

    Yep. Rugeley is in Staffordshire (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=rugeley+staffs&ie=UTF8&z=13&g=rugeley+staffs&iwloc=addr).

    The camp itself was on Cannock Chase, as was another large WW1 training camp (Brocton).

    The camps together had a capacity of around 40,000 men.

    JRR Tolkein trained at Rugeley during 1915.

    It apparently closed sometime in the 1990s.

     

  • At 6:56 AM , Blogger MaryB said...

    So he did spell it right. I've had a hard time finding reference to it, but now that you've supplied the info, PT, I can take away the question mark. Thanks!

     

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home