New book remembers the WW1 fallen from the Heathfield area

A while back we publicised Nicola’s quest for information about the fallen soldiers named on the war memorials in Heathfield, Broad Oak and Punnetts Town. After months of painstaking reseach she has now completed and published her book. In it she researches the names of all of the soldiers who are named on the World War One memorials and tries to piece together a history of each man; looking at their local connections and family ties.

For anyone who has relatives named on the memorial stones this is a fascinating insight into who these men were and what happened to them.

Pre-1914 Heathfield was a large, rural village with a train station, outlying villages, a yearly agricultural show and its own supply of natural gas which lit the station. The young men who went off to the war would very likely have attended the primary schools at Cross in Hand, Maynards Green, Punnetts Town, Old Heathfield, Herstmonceux, Dallington and further afield.  Some of the men did not originate from the Heathfield area, but had links or had recently settled here.

The book is both fascinating and sombre as you read the potted history of each man. Many died very young and often within months of being sent to the front. Although the battlefields of France are the most known, you will read of men dying as far afield as Iraq. Families frequently lost more than one son and this put an enormous pressure on the rural farming community with farmers struggling to farm their land with reduced man power.

This book gives an amazing insight into the lives of all those named on the war memorials. If you are interested in finding out more you can buy a copy from Gemini Greetings in Heathfield or Nicola_Walker@live.co.uk at £9.95 or £12 including postage.