Mexborough & Swinton Times, October 28, 1939

Like Father Like Son

A Wombwell man who joined the Army in April, 1914, and has 25 years’ service to his credit, now claims his son as a “chum.” Both are at present on active service.

The father is Mr. George William Hitchen (52), 101 off High Street, Wombwell, a gunner in an anti-aircraft battery: the son is Private George Major Hitchen (20), who is serving abroad.

The Hitchens come of a family with a long Army tradition. The grandfather, George Major Hitchen (76), living in Park Street, Wombwell, was a member of the old Barnsley Volunteers for a great number of years and will be remembered as the conductor of the old Barnsley Borough Band and the Wombwell Town Band.

Mr. George William Hitchen joined the 1/5 York and Lancaster Regiment in April, 1914, and went to France the following year. An accident in the trenches caused him to be invalided out after seven months of rough service. He rejoined the regiment in 1922, and for a long time was a tenor horn player in the 1/5 York and Lancaster Band. When at home he has worked at Darfield Maid Colliery.

George Major Hitchen joined up in 1937 at the age of 18, and “has now been abroad twelve months. His family have not heard from him for eight weeks, and all that they know of his whereabout is that he is somewhere across the sea.