We don't know a lot about my great grandfather Thomas or his life before joining the British Army. From my own research, he was born in Limerick, County Munster, Ireland, into a poor family, with about 12 or 13 siblings. At the age of about 16, he left Ireland for England, possibly lying about his age. Thomas joined the British Army, as an Irish Protestant, in WW1 as a career regular, at around 16 or 17.

After WWI, Thomas remained in the Army, he was stationed in Alton and Woolwich and may also have spent time in Gibraltar. It is believed he met Elsie Daisy, my great grandmother while he was stationed in Alton and from records I found online, he married Elsie in Alton in 1930. Their son, my grandfather Michael Thomas Russell, was born in April 1934 in Woolwich and when Michael was about three months old, Thomas and his family were sent to Hong Kong.

We have no details about Thomas' service during that WWI and very few details of his service during WWII.

My grandfather, Michael, remembered very little of his father, as he was only 8 when he was killed. During the war, my grandfather and great grandmother were evacuated from Hong Kong to the Philippines and then to Australia, where they lived until 1946, when they returned to England.

My great grandfather, Thomas, was survived by my great grandmother, Elsie and my grandfather, Michael. Later, my grandfather served in the Air Force and spent some time in Kenya. He married my grandmother Pauline King in December 1956 and passed away in 2010 after living with dementia for some time. We miss him dearly.

To trace my great grandfather’s family, I took a DNA test and was able to find my Irish relatives. I only wish I could have shared this with my grandfather, as he never knew any of his Irish family.