The Missing of the Somme




The Missing of the Somme

Historian Charles Bean observed during the Somme offensive how ‘a scrap piece of iron flung at random on the hillside in front of Mouquet drove its course right through to the furthest end of the world.’

It was a random scrap of iron that struck Captain Ralph Ekin-Smyth in the failed attack on Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916. His body unrecovered, Ralph was classified as missing in action. 

For months afterwards, his wife Hilda waited patiently for news about her husband, but little came. Then ‘out of the blue’, she received a parcel containing his prized Kodak camera.

Then in 1923, Hilda received an unexpected letter. It explained that Ralph’s remains, along with those of 18 others, had been discovered in a large crater just beyond the farm. The contents in his badly deteriorated wallet had helped to identify him. Hilda requested that it be returned so her sons, Raymond, Walter, and Kenneth would have something to remember their father by.

For these young boys, the perished wallet, muddied epaulette (pictured), and that old camera would be their personal connection to a father they never really knew.

The wallet is now in the possession of Margaret Lee, the granddaughter of Ralph. For Margaret, the wallet signifies terrible sadness. She recounted that during the Somme offensive, Ralph, perhaps sensing the ‘hopelessness’ of the situation, sent a letter to Raymond. In it, he implored his eldest son, who was still at primary school, to care for his mother and siblings should he not return home. 

Margaret has memories of Hilda’s life after Ralph’s death: her financial struggles, her custom of always wearing navy to mourn her husband, her torment when her sons marched off to the Second World War, and her foreboding during those years whenever the telegram boy rode past the house. 
 
Like my posts? Then take a sneak preview at my soon-to-be-released novel, ‘Night in Passchendaele.’ Pre-order now available:

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761265976/night-in-passchendaele/


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