Captain Harold Page (my Grt-Grandfather) with 106th Battery of the 22nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, from the 7th - 9th July 1916, alongside 104th & 105th batteries, was pounding the area around the west side of Mametz Wood in support of the 38th (Welsh) Division. #MametzWood

After a terrible day on the 7th July, the troops withdrew their assault ready to re-group for a big push on 10th July. At this stage the 38th Welsh Division had pushed the Germans off the hill on top of Caterpillar Wood and had occupied it. The Artillery set up their guns here.

On the 10th July 1916 (104 years ago), Cpt Page & his battery were positioned at the top of Caterpillar Wood, attempting to shell the German machine gun & enemy artillery positions around Flatiron Copse. I took this photo in 2013. Mametz Wood & Flatiron Copse Cemetery.

At 9.55pm he was lying on his front, peering through the blasted and broken trees of Caterpillar Wood. He was acting as a Forward Observation Officer (FOO) trying to work out exact firing coordinates for his guns, when an enemy shell landed close to him.

He was badly injured when a piece of shrapnel from an exploding ammunition dump nearby sliced through his lower left jaw and exited out behind his ear. He received treatment under the management of the 130th Field Ambulance. It is likely that this prompt action saved his life.

He arrived at the first medical station with proper medically qualified doctors in the derelict church in the village of Morlancourt which we visited in 2016. He had urgent medical care & was operated on. Slivers of bone and teeth were removed from his badly damaged jaw and mouth

Thankfully he survived and was evacuated out and sent back to the UK. He became one of Dr Harold Gillies patients where he was treated at the specialist unit in Sidcup in Kent. Gillies was a New Zealand trained surgeon and the original pioneer of experimental plastic surgery.

Over the next 2 years he had several follow-up operations to reconstruct his face and jaw and made a full recovery.
He married, had three children and died aged 81 in January 1972. I was born on July 11th 1972 and sadly, missed meeting him by six months.

A group of us visited Mametz in 2016 to mark the centenary. Huge thanks to Iain McHenry for his research into what happened to my Great Grandfather & thank you again, Jeremy for helping to put it into context, in person, in 2016.

I painted this oil painting of Mametz Wood after learning about my Great Grandfathers story. A small part of France that has such special significance. #MametzWood