A service was held yesterday to commemorate the sacrifice made during the first world war by the Bradford Pals, recruited and trained together, and ultimately perishing in large numbers together at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The picture shows two members of a re-enactment group at the service. The uniforms are from the first world war period, the left hand one is from the early part of the war with canvas belt and straps, there was aparently a shortage of canvas as the war went on and it was later replaced by leather which tended to rot in the wet conditions of the trenches. The brass buttons are nicely polished on these uniforms, but soldiers in the trenches did not polish their buttons, glinting metal would draw attention from the enemy when they went over the top. My thanks to the two 'Tommies' for the information on the uniforms.
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