English: This is about my father, John MacPherson Bayliss, who enlisted at the beginning of the Great War by lying about his age. He was probably only 15 or 16 in 1914, maybe a little less, but, as he died in 1962, when I was aged 12 years old, I cannot confirm his date of birth. It was always told to me that his 'lies' about his date of birth followed him around for the rest of his life, as he never knew what date of birth to give to the authorities when he was asked!

My father was in the Royal Field Artillery, rank Bombardier, and I was told he rode one of the horses in the team that drew the gun carriage and limber. He claimed he used to be a sparring partner of Bombardier Billy Wells, a famous boxer of the time, and later to feature as the person who banged the gong at the start of J. Arthur Rank films, how true his sparing with Billy Wells is I cannot say! He told a few tales of the war (remember I was under 12 yrs old during his lifetime) and I remember some of them. He told me he was gassed, a fact I can now confirm, as I have the medical treatment paperwork, dated 1st. May 1918. He also said a piece of shrapnel came through one of his cheeks, but I have nothing to prove this. He often described the actions of Gurkha troops, where they would, without hesitation, attack a German soldier with their Kukri, and throw it at the soldier, often beheading the poor soul, silently, and allowing other troops to suprise their enemy. He always talked of his admiration for the way the Gurkha troops behaved, and fearlessly attacked anything and anybody they were ordered to do so.

When My mother died in 1976 I discovered all of the paperwork I have uploaded images of to this site, and I had always had the shell case that was given to him (and others probably had their own as well) by the regimental smithy, showing the names of battles in which the 16t. Irish division took part during 1914 - 1917.