Rhoden, William

William Rhoden – Jo (soprano)

William Rhoden RASC

Born 15 April 1901, died 12 September 1985.

At age 14 he began work in the mine with his father, who saw his son’s future as a mine manager.

At 18, without his father’s agreement, William joined the army, possibly an infantry regiment as he always said “third class riding is better than first class walking”.

Or he may, on entry, have joined the Royal Army Service Corps. Whichever the case, he served in the RASC for the majority, if not all his seven years’ service. He learned to ride horses.

His rank was: “Driver W. Rhoden RASC”, service number: 3849066.

He trained at Bulford barracks and served for some of the time in the army of occupation in Katowicz, Silesia. There, in season, cherries were plentiful and the soldiers would fill their horses’ nosebags with them – not for the horses, but for themselves. After that experience he disliked cherries and would not eat them. At some point he was hospitalised with jaundice.

Williiam Rhoden’s army service ended in 1925.