My Worldly Links through World War I & II
Namibia, South Africa, isn’t really a place that I would ever believe I was connected with or, if I am honest, have ever considered travelling to. Nor is Karachi in India. But, since finding out more about my maternal Grandad’s brother, Harry Edward Cooper, I am now intrigued and would love to visit either one or both of these places.
Harry Edward Cooper was born in Karachi, India on 2nd October 1892. He was the son of my Great Grandfather, also named Harry, and his wife, Emily. He had 1 sister, Doris, and two brothers, Cyril and Geoffrey (my Grandad). He attended Tynemouth High School in 1907 and, according to the 1911 census, it was confirmed that he was then living in Fishergate, York in the UK.
It was in September 1914 that Harry left Tynemouth, to move to Kimberley and then departed for the Front. After 9 months in German South West Africa (as it was then) their task was triumphantly completed. Harry then went north to help as a signaller. It was in Kalkfield, on June 24th 1915 that Corporal Harry Cooper of the South Africa Field Telegraph regiment was shot and killed in cold blood.
Kalkfield is in the Otjozondjupa region of Nambia, South Africa. It is situated halfway between Omaruru and Otjiwarongo and it is in Omaruru Cemetery that Harry was buried. His grave is one of just a few military graves there.
There is also a memorial erected in Tynemouth, which includes Harry’s name.
With my Grandad, Geoffrey Cooper, a prisoner of World War II for more than 5 years marching across Polandm including being held captive in a Stalag located in Southern Poland – which is believed to be Malbork – as well as fighing in France, you can see that there are plenty of places which I would love to visit due to my war connections.
A couple of years ago, Ross, Grace and I took a holiday in France. We drove hours to get to the location where we were staying and this took us through much of the French countryside. I can distinctly remember driving back, looking out over the poppy fields and thinking of my Grandad and all the other people who suffered. It made me cry.
To this day, I have always been fascinated by the history of both of our World Wars and, with sites such as madefrom.com who have ther own World War I History resources together with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project, the wars are easier to learn about and the world is a much smaller place.
This is a collaborative post.
Such an interesting post and I can definitely understand you wanting to visit those places as you have a family connection to them. We visited the WW1 cemeteries and memorials in the Somme and Flanders whilst on holiday in France and Belgium a few years ago and went to the Armistice Day service at the Thiepval Memorial on the 90th anniversary of the end of WW1 which as you can imagine was a very moving experience. Last year we drove through some Belgian villages a few weeks before the centenary of the start of WW1 and it really struck me that 100 years earlier they would have been much the same with no inkling of the horrors that were about to be unleashed which was a very sobering thought. I only know of one family member killed in WW1 – a distant cousin whose grave we did visit. Hope you do manage to visit the areas connected with your great-uncle one day.
This is really interesting and I love all the photos. I find both world wars fascinating too. They had such an impact on our socio-economic situation in Europe and how we live now. I’m jewish so lost a lot of family in WW2 that I can never really trace without great difficulty. I have family in Brasil, USA, America and Australia. Great post, lots of food for thought 🙂 I also find the poppy fields really moving xxx #pocolo
Wow. So interesting to delve that far back into the family tree. My Grandad was a Lancaster pilot, he used to tell us stories every Sunday lunch when we were younger. I’m not sure we appreciated it quite as much as we should have at the time, but war is so less real to the younger generations. My Dad was born in war time. It’s so easy to forget.
Interesting stuff. The ‘in cold blood’ is a strange phrase – makes you think there’s a story there.