The Boys From The Old Swan

 

"All wars end up being reduced to statistics, strategies, debates about their origins and results.
These debates about war are important, but not more important than the human story of those who fought in them." - Sir Martin Gilbert

 

 

 

This Website tells the story of my Grandfather and three Great-Uncles, who left their family pub in Wrexham, North Wales, to fight in the Great War. Peter Hughes and William, Harry and John Brown are not mentioned in any Regimental or Battalion histories, but they share a remarkable achievement - they all went off to fight in the First World War and, one way or another, they all made it home.

By the time I was born (in 1963), my Grandad and Uncles Bill and John were old men; Uncle Harry was long-since dead, and familiar to me only from family reminiscences. I never appreciated during their lifetimes that these very ordinary people had once survived extraordinary times and experiences. But during the Autumn of 1998, as Allied leaders and the last few surviving combattants gathered to remember the 80th anniversary of the War's end, I resolved to commemorate Peter Hughes and William, Harry and John Brown by researching and sharing their personal histories. I am no historian - and certainly no military historian - but, as best as I can tell them, these are their stories.