Hail, Harry Hoad! Hail, Michael Anthony Tench!
desperance found an old copy of Pilgrim's Progress with a school report from 1911, recommending Harry Hoad as a promising young man in Northumberland who excelled at sketching, as well as some photos from the same period. desperance's readers dug in to discover who Harry Hoad was and what became of him.
We looked at the dates. We hoped against odds. But Cpl. Henry Ellis Hoad died at Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 along with half-million other promising young men. He had married Margaret in 1916, but his daughter Dulcie died at or near birth in early 1917.
papersky and carandol have written a song in honor of Cpl. Hoad, who was nobody's grand-dad at all.
While I was digging into details of Harry's life, I discovered another promising young man who fell. Pvt. Michael Anthony Tench of the Light Infantry died on 21 January 2007 at age 18 as a result of injuries from a roadside IED outside of Basra, Iraq. Tenchy was an accomplished boxer and kickboxer. On 27 April, his sister gave birth to a boy that she named "Michael Anthony Tench" after his uncle. His family has started a memorial fund in Tenchy's name to raise money for the hospital unit where the younger Michael was cared for. His Mam is thinking of him at Christmas and wants to know WHY.
Hail to Harry Hoad! Hail to Michael Tench! Hail to all the other brave and promising young men who served without question or complaint. And hail to the women whose last sight of them was a fond wave at the station and who want to know WHY.
MAO
We looked at the dates. We hoped against odds. But Cpl. Henry Ellis Hoad died at Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 along with half-million other promising young men. He had married Margaret in 1916, but his daughter Dulcie died at or near birth in early 1917.
papersky and carandol have written a song in honor of Cpl. Hoad, who was nobody's grand-dad at all.
While I was digging into details of Harry's life, I discovered another promising young man who fell. Pvt. Michael Anthony Tench of the Light Infantry died on 21 January 2007 at age 18 as a result of injuries from a roadside IED outside of Basra, Iraq. Tenchy was an accomplished boxer and kickboxer. On 27 April, his sister gave birth to a boy that she named "Michael Anthony Tench" after his uncle. His family has started a memorial fund in Tenchy's name to raise money for the hospital unit where the younger Michael was cared for. His Mam is thinking of him at Christmas and wants to know WHY.
Hail to Harry Hoad! Hail to Michael Tench! Hail to all the other brave and promising young men who served without question or complaint. And hail to the women whose last sight of them was a fond wave at the station and who want to know WHY.
MAO