Oh what a lovely war

Cardigan cemetery. This is the grave of Cardigan's first casualty of The Great War, Norman Daniel, a solicitor's son working as a bank clerk in Cardiff, who died on October 18th 1914 aged 21.

But he didn't die in battle, he didn't die in France - he hadn't even left Wales.

He had joined the territorials as a volunteer and was garrisoned at Scoveston , a Napoleonic era fort that had been constructed to defend the port of Milford Haven in south Pembrokeshire. He was asleep in a tent with some comrades when in the early hours of Sunday morning the sentry on duty thought he saw an intruder, challenged him 3 times, then fired. A shot grazed the shoulder of one of soldiers in the tent and woke the rest, except for young Daniel who appeared to be still sleeping. It was only when they pulled away his blankets that they saw that a bullet had entered his head and killed him outright. Friendly fire we'd call it now.

How futile and how ironic it seems that that he joined up only to be killed by accident by his own countryman in his native land. But perhaps Norman was one of the lucky ones: his premature death meant he was spared the horrors of trench warfare, never had to face the panic of going over the top and didn't die slowly of wounds in a bomb crater in no-man's-land.

Blackadder - Goodbyeee

To see the grave inscription click here.
The recruiting officer's exhortation urging lads like Norman to join up is here.