"There I stood, in a well ploughed French field. The only sign that men had fought and died on this land were the manicured cemeteries nearby.

And yet, there I stood on the very spot where my grandfather climbed out of a trench with his comrades at 7:30am on 1st July 1916, attacking the village of Mametz.

Surreal? You bet!. 

When Andy explained what happend on that day, I emmersed myself in how my grandfather (who I knew when I was a child) must have felt. 

We visited the headstone of my grandfather's commanding officer, who was killed that day. 

We then visited Delville Wood and High Wood, locations where my grandfather saw action a few weeks later.

The following day, we stood at Ploygon Wood, near Ypres in Belgium on or within feet on the location where my grandfather earned a DCM; it floored me and my friends who were with us.

How can it be possible to uncover this level of detail after all these years? I don't know how Andy and the-charabanc team did it....but they did.

The icing on the cake was laying a wreath at the Menin Gate which, somehow laid to rest my thoughts afrer a few days of discovery. 

There is no monetary value I can possibly put on the experience. It will stay with me forever.

My eternal thanks go to my wife and children who clubbed together to pay for the research and the surprise tour for yet another 'big' birthday.

I felt like I was I was on 'Who do you think you are?'.

Fantastic!"