In his book, Ted Bailey uncovers the hidden story of his grandad, Major Frank Bailey, DCM, a man who left a tiny rural community in Essex and joined the army just after the death of Queen Victoria.
Frank’s story is also that of the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment and their part in the historic battles of the World War One, names which thunder out to us from the distant past and are indelibly imprinted in our contemporary consciousness: Gallipoli, Somme, Passchendaele and Cambrai.
A search revealed an unknown battalion brother and another who died at Ypres and a hitherto unknown set of family connections.
Frank survived that ghastly war and in peacetime his quiet demeanour belied a remarkable record of active service and heroism in conflict.
