GAMMON Samuel Thomas

. Thomas Samuel's widow, Gladys, was left to bring up three boys, Thomas Samuel, Richard and Fred, pictured below.

Fred recounts the story of the Rosary:

In early summer 1916, my mother, Gladys, received a Rosary from my father in France. She decided to take my brothers and myself into Swansea, to Gwalia Studios in College Street, where the portrait was taken. Mother is shown wearing the Rosary and I am, Fred, the baby aged 10 months sitting on my mother's knee.

Mother is shown wearing the crucifix and I am the baby, aged 10 months, sitting on my mother's knee.  A copy of the photograph was promptly despatched to my father, but sadly it is not known if it arrived before his untimely death during the battle of Mametz Wood aged 29 years. "His mother's crucifix remains of his one most treasured possessions father's Buoje with medals  his pue remembrance plaque which, after 84 years, is still kept in its original wrapping.    

Tragically, Tom was killed at the age of 23, knocked off his bike by a bus. His address was published in the newspaper after the inquest and one day Fred opened the front door to a one legged man, who asked if he could speak to his mother. 

The gentleman was shown into the front room and spoke mans his mother for a while. Later she told Fred that the man was a veteran, who had served with his father and had been next to him when he was killed by a shell which had also caused an injury which had led to the loss of the mans leg. From time to time Fred's mother had blamed the Generals in charge for choosing to send her husband into battle at Mametz.

Fred Gammon and his daughter, also
visited All Saints Church, Oystermouth 

Fred Gammon. Fred, 79, and a member of the well-known Mumbles sea-faring family, was one of the estimated 2,000 local children orphaned when their fathers were killed during the First World War.

Fred told me, "Parties of 40 boys at a time were taken to the summer homes at Llangennith for a holiday every year,' 

"For the first two years we went by taxi. After that it was by bus. And we had a wonderful time collecting seagulls' eggs and riding wild ponies!

Certain episodes stand out clearly in Fred's memory. One was a visit by Major Bernard Freyburg, the legendary New Zealander hero. Wounded eight times in the first war and the first ashore at Galipoli, he had won the Victoria Cross. And although he was in a wheelchair and attended by a nurse when he came to Gower, he took an active part in the second war, commanding a New Zealand expeditionary force on Crete after the fall of Greece.

"He was obviously a very important man," said Fred. "He was accompanied by some of the councillors and British Legion officials from Swansea.

"Some of the boys sang and some recited poetry for him. I sang The Miner's Song. Afterwards we lined up and marched past the major. He shook hands with each boy and gave him a shilling."

Another vivid memory is that after their holiday, there was a customary stop on the way home. 

Before we left on Monday morning, matron always gave us permission to pick the wild flowers, such as daisies, honey-suckle and roses," he said. "We always stopped at the Cenotaph and put our flowers there in our fathers' memories. I always put mine where my father's name was, on the side facing Swansea.".

It's nearly half a century since Fred saw Swansea, but renewing contact with a few local people has given him so much pleasure that he planned a return journey to see the places that he cherishes in his memory.

There was also the delightful discovery that the Summer Homes still existed, as Burrows Hall Nursing Home. And finally, in July 1995, Fred Gammon's dream came true. Accompanied by his daughter, Mrs June Robertson, he came back to Swansea for a brief visit.

Thanks to research by Oystermouth Historical Association and the South West Wales branch of the Western Front Association, Fred's knowledge of his father's war was now as complete as it could be. But Fred still had a sadly ironical postscript to the story. His father had been a member of the Mumbles lifeboat crew. At a time when nobody knew the bloodbath that lay ahead, his father had thought dry land a safer bet than the sea. He was the only member of the crew to be killed. The rest, who had joined the navy, came home safely.

Fred's nostalgic visit to the Summer Homes-Burrows Hall nursing home ended with an emotional echo of his tribute all those years before. He picked another posy of wild flowers and placed them near his father's name on Swansea Cenotaph.

We honour them with remembrance
during a tour of The Somme.

During The Battle for Mametz Wood, three Mumbles Men were killed on the same day, The casualties were Samuel GAMMON, John O THOMAS, son of Mrs.  F Thomas from Mill Lane, born Blackpill and George Herbert Franklyn WALTERS.
John Thomas and George Walters, enlisted in Swansea.  

 In later battles, they were followed by Richard BEYNON and Clifford STEEL. 

They are remembered on the THIEPVAL MEMORIAL which bears the names of more than 72,000 men who have no known grave.