My late grandfather speaks again on Twitter
My grandfather Jack Christie, (’Pappy’ to his 6 besotted grandchildren) died in January 1993, just a month short of his 95th birthday.
So how come his words are now appearing on Twitter, a medium whose existence he could not even have imagined?
Jack appeared to many an unremarkable Ulsterman who had worked hard all his life, raised a happy family and faithfully served his beloved Church of Ireland.
But he was far from unremarkable, for Jack served in the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in military history. On the first day alone the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties, and by the end of the campaign the Allies and Central Powers would lose more than 1.5 million men. It was hell on earth.
Even though he could not be persuaded to talk much about his experiences in the First World War, Jack made audio recordings for the Somme Association and has been chosen as one of BBC Northern Ireland’s Voices 16.
A century on from the events of 1916, the BBC is revisiting the testimony of those who were witness to history and looking at how people’s lives were affected by the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme.
And that’s how come my ‘Pappy’, Jack Christie, Royal Army Medical Corps, speaks again on Twitter @BBCVoices16.
You’ll be hearing more of Jack (and a little from me, my Dad and my son) as Voices 16 builds towards the Somme and a major TV film. We’re told it will air around or just before the anniversary of the battle.
Annette McGrath