Samuel Bodger, gunner RGA

Samuel Edmund Bodger, gunner RGA, trained at Portland when he enlisted for the War. His wartime correspondence with his family contains remarkable items from the landscape of the trenches. In his letter written from the trenches the day before the Spring Offensive, March 20th, 1918, he encloses a dried leaf (violet) and a butterfly. These were subsequently kept in the family bible. The letter complains about a girl's failure to write to him and mentions picking flowers in the trenches. Samuel's embroidered souvenirs were kept by the contributor's (his niece) parents, on the mantelpiece in their bedroom. Samuel's father, also called Samuel Edmund Bodger, enlisted when in his 40s, but survived the war into the 1960s. He was a member of the Devonshire Yeomanry.