My paternal grandfather served on the western front at the end of WW1 and was hit by shrapnel during the big push just days from the end of the war. He lost one leg and nearly lost the other. During WW2 he served in the home guard teaching marksmanship. My other grandfather was a bandsman in the Essex regiment but was invalided out when war broke out because he had lost an eye in a silly childhood accident. He served in the ARP. Other than a great uncle's son killed flying a Spitfire my family came through unscathed.
