Fred Chislett was my great grandfather, my grandmother (his daughter Ethel) used to speak of him often when I was a child. I now have his medals including the Military Medal but as there are no citations we do not know the reason for this award. I have tried to access his service record but it was one of the many destroyed by bombing in WW2. My family and I have been to visit Fred's grave in France on two occasions, something his wife and daughter had been unable to do. Before the war Fred worked as head groom and chauffeur to Lt Col Cooke-Hurle living in Lyndhurst in the New Forest. His wife Alice was also employed by the family as a cook and Ethel enjoyed a happy childhood here until Fred was killed in action when she was just nine years old. She used to say that Fred died volunteering to take the place of another man who felt unwell, he was transporting ammunition to the front line by horse. A local newspaper report of his death tells how his brother-in-law Robert Cook who was wounded near the same spot, actually saw Fred's dead horse and passed by without knowing the identity of the man who was killed. I am very proud of my great grandfather and wish that I had paid more attention to the stories my grandmother tol of her early life with him. I do know that life changed drastically for my grandmother following the death of her father and that her mother never remarried.  Fred survived the war from August 1914 until March 1918 but never came home. He was much loved and is still fondly remembered. 

Kay Lawrence