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Identifying an old WW1 photo.

Fozzie

Fozzie

LostCousins Member
I was given the attached photo purporting to be my grandfather (on the right) during WW1 from a cousin who has since died. It has "KR Gifhorn" written on the back, otherwise, there is nothing to identify it. Gifhorn is near Hanover. KR stands for Kastorf which is a small town just north of Gifhorn and I wondered if it might have been a German POW camp but that place is not listed as one. The cap badges are not clear enough to identify a regiment so all my research has drawn a blank. I have no idea what my grandfather did during that war, he died when I was 6. Does anybody have any suggestions where I can take this further? Thanks.
 

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Fozzie said:
I have no idea what my grandfather did during that war, he died when I was 6.
Click to expand...
Have you tried searching for your grandfather in the 1911 census?
My partner and I have an interest in both WW wars, we have looked at your photo and come to the conclusion that the men are wearing a German uniform, we could be wrong but it does not look like a British uniform.
Like Gillian, we wish you good luck.
 
Welcome to the forum Fozzie, could your grandfather have been in another service such as the fire brigade? If you search on Google for "auxiliary fire service" you will see a photo from the "wartimememoriesproject.com" site, the uniforms on some of the men are very similar to your grandfathers.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. My grandfather was Frank Martin born 1880 in Chelsea. With such a common name it has been hard to separate one from another! I don't even know if he was in the Army or not. The Fire Service was never mentioned by my grandmother so not sure about that idea either. In 1911 he was the manager of a Fishmongers shop in Chertsey and an Insurance Agent in 1939. I thought the cap badges look like they represent the British Army, especially the middle one which is similar to the East Lancashire Regiment.
 
Fozzie said:
They found him, along with his service record!
Click to expand...
Good one Fozzie, pleased for you. Could you please prove I was wrong in thread number 5, which regiment did he belong to?
Thanks in advance.
 
He was 31019 Pte Frank Martin, East Surrey Regiment. Captured 8/5/1917 at Fresnoy, France. He is wearing 13th Bn East Surrey’s Wandsworth Battalion cap badge. After capture Frank was recorded at the following camps: 23 Jun 1917 at Dulmen, 11 Aug 1917 at Limburg and 24 Nov 1917 at Hameln. Hameln was a parent camp in X Corps administrative zone and had many attached work camps. Kr. is the German abbr. for Kreiss, a Government area and may have been home to one of the attached work camps. There wás a POW camp in Kreis Gifhorn in WW1, 1.7 km down the "Lagerweg" in Rádersloh on the south side. The uniforms were black with brown arm-bands which were used by some prisoners. So there you have it!
 
Congratulations, Fozzie. I'm so glad for you. Also that the long long trail turned up trumps, as they did for me, too, some time back.
 
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