Battle of the Somme 90th Anniversary July 1st

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

davem, you've mentioned in the past that Priscilla is friendly with the Tolkien Society. Would you ever be able to bring this question to her at an Oxenmoot or what is it that the TS calls their fall meetings?

This is also an example of the kind of thing which I've suggested could well be missing in the popular Carpenter biography. Did Carpenter ever speak with Tolkien's children, or only with Tolkien and Christopher?--not to disparage Carpenter now, mind.

Don't think I'd get the chance to have a word It would be interesting to get confirmation though.

There's no mention of the incident in The Tolkien Family Album (written by Priscilla & John).

All there is is the following:

In later years he would occasionally talk of being at the Front: of the horrors of the first German gas attack, of the utter exhaustion & ominous quiet after a bombardment, of the whining scream of the shells, & the endless marching, always on foot, through a devastted landscape, sometimes carrying the men's equipment as well as his own to encourage them to keep going.

(It also mentions the fact that Edith was listed as Next of Kin for Hilary as well as Ronald, & that she kept a large map of France on the wall & could guage fairly well where Ronald was at any time.)