Casgliadau Arlein

Black and white photograph, mounted. Photographic copy - "In loving memory of Corporal Robert Matthews" - poem in Welsh and English with photograph in centre of page. Caption from exhibition "In memory of a brave Cwmaman soldier, Robert Matthews, who gave his life in the First World War. (Gemma Knight). Rhian Jones interviewed her grandfather, Mr Noah Jones, who served his country in the First World War. He left his job at the colliery in Cwmpennar and volunteered to join in the Royal Field Artillery as a gunner. 'After training at Preston and Woolwich, I was sent to France in January, 1916. I landed at Le Havre and was sent to join the 117 Battery RFA of the 26th Brigade, this was a flying column. This meant that my unit could be sent quickly to any part of the front where it might be needed.' His battery fought in the Battle of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele. On the Somme and Ypres, the big guns fired day and night for weeks on end. The villages and countryside became wastelands of mud and young men died horribly. 'Luckily I survived the warm although gassed in 1918 by some German gas shells, and returned home in Abercwmboi in January, 1919'".