As a precursor to my road trip in Northern France, here's an article written in May from the Leigh Times. Leigh is near Southend-On-Sea, Essex and is the home tome of my Uncle Denis Gale. His father, my Grandfather, was Frederick George Gale, and he survived the first world war. As to whether he is "The Luckiest Man...", you can be the judge; here's a precis of his war exploits: August 4 1914 War declared. September 9 1914 FG joins 9th Battalion of Essex Regiment as volunteer (Battalion has 900 men). May 1915, goes to France. Sep-Oct 1915, first battle of Loos – 9th Essex incurs 70 deaths, total British losses at Loos 60,000. July 3 1916, First Battle of Somme, 9th Essex loses 400 men in first 3 hours of engagement. FG suffers shell shock and is given three days respite in rear trenches. July 7 1916, with newly drafted replacements for the dead guys, 9th Essex, including a "recovered" Frederick Gale, make another advance on Somme, losing another 150 men. By November 1916, 9th Essex had clocked up 720 fatalities (80%) of the original 900 men. Of the 10 men who volunteered the same day as Frederick in 1914, he is the only survivor. Total British losses in the Somme campaign total 624,000. April 1917, Arras Offensive. 9th Essex, loses another 170 dead or badly wounded (the numbers in the battalion are maintained by continual replenishment via more volunteers - see next pic for how this was done). Frederick literally soldiers on. June-October 1917 9th Essex involved in a number of smaller skirmishes, losing a further 150 dead plus 150 badly wounded, FG still around. November-December 1917, Battle of Cambrai, France. I cannot find precisely how many more died from the 9th Essex at Cambrai, but one posting from a military sounding source suggests “heavy losses” and total British losses were 44,000 in that battle. Again, Frederick escaped, unscathed (in body at least). However, this time, he didn’t soldier on. For 24 hours, as the battle subsided at Cambrai, he lay virtually motionless in a shell hole, personally uninjured, but surrounded by a pile of dead 9th Essex colleagues. The shell hole was knee deep in mud and water. All around, in the smoke and the haze, there were German voices, so he stayed put, petrified. Over time, the voices got closer. The body next to him had a red cross arm band on, which he took off and put on himself. He slung his rifle into a pool of muddy water, where it remained obscured. The Germans eventually found him, and, noticing his arm band, didn’t shoot him (which appeared to have been routinely happening to others). For the rest of the war, he was a prisoner, undertaking medic's duties. For this experience, at least in someone’s reckoning, he receives the sobriquet “The Luckiest Man”. Lucky, eh?