The family of a WWI soldier who never talked about his service have turned his war diaries into a book.

Ian Wood’s grandfather William Wood enlisted in the Royal Naval division of the 1st and 148th field ambulance and served in Gallipoli, Belguim and France during the First World War, but kept his service a secret from his grandchildren.

He was awarded the military medal on October 27, 1918 for his services, but unfortunately the medal is not retained by his family.

After learning about their military past, Ian, of Tytherington Drive, and his son Simon, who now lives in Norwich, began to transcribe the diaries to learn more about William’s life at war.

Ian Wood

Grandfather-of-two Ian, who has lived in Macclesfield for more than 40 years, said: “I never knew he had been in the first world war and I only got his diaries after he died in 1952. I started to look at the conditions he was living in, I can’t understand
how we described being in a trench as comfortable and how he was enjoying his time.

“I never heard him talk about his time in the war, he was a big man and I think he may have been a stretcher bearer.

“All I know I have read from his diaries. My son Simon spent years transcribing his words, the writing is so small in some sections it can only be read with a magnifying glass.”

Simon Wood

Born in Bury in 1880, William moved to Haslingden where he married Alice Thorn in 1905. He began his
diaries when he was picked for the draft for the Royal Marines medical unit. His journey begins with a journey by ship to the Greek island Lemnos in October 1915. His diaries detail his journeys and people he meets along they including Harry Pilkington from Accrington. He describes shellings, and men who were wounded and gassed during his stint on the Western front.

The diaries of William Wood

Ian said: “I have a hardback copy of his transcribed diaries and I pick it up and read it from time to time. In one entry he describes a sunset, and you can picture what he’s writing down. I’ve been able to tell my grandchildren about him and I think it’s important that they know their history.”