My grandfather was Joseph Temple Mandale. He was married to Gertrude Eleanor Mandale and they had three children, Joseph, Charles and Irene. Charles was my father. Grandfather Joseph was wounded at Ypres and died in captivity. His belongings were sent back to my grandmother and they included a small brass monument with Ypres written on it. Joseph's rank was Lance Corporal and he was 34 years old when he died. I have appended a photograph - the only one we have. Looking at it I can glean a little of what made the man. He was proud to serve his country, his bearing shouted it and he looked very smart in his uniform. He carried a cane held horizontally at his side beneath his arm. He wore a moustache which was waxed into a thin point on each side of his upper lip. All of that gave me the impression he was a careful man interested in detail and that would have run through his short life. War is not something that young people wish to discuss unless involved in it. I never knew him and his immediate family never spoke of him. It was after all a long time ago. I wonder what grandfather Joseph would have thought of the world today - would he have thought his dying would bring on such changes? I doubt he even considered it. He had a job to do and he did it to the best of his ability. What more can one ask? The fact that he gave up his tomorrows so that we could have today would not have occurred to him. He probably thought he would go home and be reunited with his wife and three children. He now lies in a foreign field beneath a headstone engraved with a circle enclosing a carved image of a Lion and the words "The Buffs" beneath which is the engraved information of his Name, Rank and Regiment. A simple cross with the words "Loved and missed by all" finishes the headstone embellishment. He is accompanied by hundreds of other brave men lying in serried ranks similarly marked. There for eternity. What he gave to the world, apart from his life, were three children who went on to marry and provide more children to make a better future for mankind. In today's world he would be a Hero and that is how I think of him. It would have been a great pleasure to have met him.

Lyn Mandale