P A U L F O S T E R
ABOUT ME
A B O U T M E
Thank you for visiting my website and hope that you will find it of interest.
I became fascinated in the First World War as a child and both my grandfathers fought in the war. They served on the Western Front and in Africa. My maternal grandfather, whose photograph looms large on the Home Page, taught me the songs of the war as a child and carried shrapnel in his legs until the day he died.
When I first visited the battlefields of the Western Front they were still littered with the paraphernalia of the conflict and many areas remained uncleared. Almost at every turn in a road, be it small or large, piles of shells were left for collection by the local farmers by the authorities.
Wandering around the cemeteries and memorials that dot the landscape was always fascinating to me and I wondered what was the story below the grave or behind the engraved name. Everyone who gave their life in the war had a past, they had grown up with family and friends, many had careers and their lives were probably mapped out until the First World War changed everything.
My books, in the series ‘In Continuing & Grateful Memory’,are my tribute to all those who served in the war and in particular to those who died. I am busily working on the series and would be interested to hear from you with a contribution.
We think that today a new book on the First World War is produced almost every week. During, and particularly immediately after, the war books were written and published in profusion. My series ‘I Was There’ concentrates on reproducing the books published by families as a tribute to their son who was killed. The books are long out of print and I have written a separate section with a commentary on many of those who are referred to in the original text.
Each book, with its letters home from the front, give a fascinating insight into the life in the front line and their activities both in and out of the line.
Thank you again for visiting my website.
I became fascinated in the First World War as a child and both my grandfathers fought in the war. They served on the Western Front and in Africa. My maternal grandfather, whose photograph looms large on the Home Page, taught me the songs of the war as a child and carried shrapnel in his legs until the day he died.
When I first visited the battlefields of the Western Front they were still littered with the paraphernalia of the conflict and many areas remained uncleared. Almost at every turn in a road, be it small or large, piles of shells were left for collection by the local farmers by the authorities.
Wandering around the cemeteries and memorials that dot the landscape was always fascinating to me and I wondered what was the story below the grave or behind the engraved name. Everyone who gave their life in the war had a past, they had grown up with family and friends, many had careers and their lives were probably mapped out until the First World War changed everything.
My books, in the series ‘In Continuing & Grateful Memory’,are my tribute to all those who served in the war and in particular to those who died. I am busily working on the series and would be interested to hear from you with a contribution.
We think that today a new book on the First World War is produced almost every week. During, and particularly immediately after, the war books were written and published in profusion. My series ‘I Was There’ concentrates on reproducing the books published by families as a tribute to their son who was killed. The books are long out of print and I have written a separate section with a commentary on many of those who are referred to in the original text.
Each book, with its letters home from the front, give a fascinating insight into the life in the front line and their activities both in and out of the line.
Thank you again for visiting my website.
An Appreciation by David Ellis, Head of Department
“All the books in the 'In Continuing & Grateful Memory'
series are the result of what must have been a huge amount of research and so provide amazing detail of a selection of soldiers buried in a variety of cemeteries. The Menin Gate volumes give accounts of approximately 1500 soldiers whose names are on the memorial. The Ploegsteert volume lists hundreds of soldiers who are buried in a selection of twelve cemeteries plus names on the Ploegsteert Memorial itself (in addition there is a tour described of the most important sites in the Ploegsteert sector).
The latest volume, "Ypres to Zillebeke via Hooge" continues in the same format but now has a lot more of the illustrations in colour along with a large selection of very useful and informative maps of actions that occurred around particular sites mentioned in the book.
In all books, for each soldier, the author gives the regiment/battalion they fought with, their service number, the grave reference number (as well as the cemetery plan itself!), medals, if any, awarded (including citations for Victoria Cross recipients and other medals awarded for acts of bravery) and in most cases a photograph of the soldier which adds a greater sense of connection with a particular casualty. In addition the maps give the reader/visitor a sense of what occurred around a particular site rather than just a landscape.
I have found these books incredibly useful in providing a real focus for battlefield trips that I take for students in my school. Rather than just standing in a cemetery and looking, we can focus on a few headstones and think about a very personal perspective of soldiers who died in the conflict. I now am able, with the help of these books, to give the students a tour around the Menin Gate focussing on about 15 to 20 names, and this gives the students a fascinating insight into a cross section of soldiers, some very famous names, who fought and died in the Great War.
These books provide a superb reference library which is in constant use and provides an almost limitless collection of information about soldiers who died in the Great War. I cannot recommend these volumes highly enough, especially the latest which has a lot of refinements of the previous volumes. They are useful not only for my personal battlefield trips but for the trips I take school students on. Before I had these books to hand some of the sites on school trips didn't really have a proper focus but now a lot of the sites we visit are brought to life with a fascinating selection of well-researched information."
The latest volume, "Ypres to Zillebeke via Hooge" continues in the same format but now has a lot more of the illustrations in colour along with a large selection of very useful and informative maps of actions that occurred around particular sites mentioned in the book.
In all books, for each soldier, the author gives the regiment/battalion they fought with, their service number, the grave reference number (as well as the cemetery plan itself!), medals, if any, awarded (including citations for Victoria Cross recipients and other medals awarded for acts of bravery) and in most cases a photograph of the soldier which adds a greater sense of connection with a particular casualty. In addition the maps give the reader/visitor a sense of what occurred around a particular site rather than just a landscape.
I have found these books incredibly useful in providing a real focus for battlefield trips that I take for students in my school. Rather than just standing in a cemetery and looking, we can focus on a few headstones and think about a very personal perspective of soldiers who died in the conflict. I now am able, with the help of these books, to give the students a tour around the Menin Gate focussing on about 15 to 20 names, and this gives the students a fascinating insight into a cross section of soldiers, some very famous names, who fought and died in the Great War.
These books provide a superb reference library which is in constant use and provides an almost limitless collection of information about soldiers who died in the Great War. I cannot recommend these volumes highly enough, especially the latest which has a lot of refinements of the previous volumes. They are useful not only for my personal battlefield trips but for the trips I take school students on. Before I had these books to hand some of the sites on school trips didn't really have a proper focus but now a lot of the sites we visit are brought to life with a fascinating selection of well-researched information."
Forthcoming Titles
Cameos on those buried in:
Bard Cottage Cemetery
La Brique Military Cemetery No 1 and No 2
Talana Farm Cemetery
Bard Cottage Cemetery
La Brique Military Cemetery No 1 and No 2
Talana Farm Cemetery