Jack's Back

In August, Lieutenant 'Jack' Ganzoni returned to 4th Suffolks who were once more in the front line near Neuve Chapelle. 
His stay with the Battalion was not a long one and he was soon off again to serve with another unit. Jack had left the Battalion shortly before the battle of Neuve Chapelle under somewhat curious circumstances. It seemed that just when things were hotting up, several of the most important officers, went home on leave. However, a newspaper article from late March 1915  reported that he had actually been sent home to recuperate following a bout of bronchitis and a case of extreme frost bite; the latter being most probably caused by cold winter days spent in primitive trenches. The War Diary however, made no mention of his injuries.
The newspaper went on to report that “He speaks cheerfully, but guardedly of the position, and says that the spirit of 4th Suffolks, with whom he is serving, is excellent. Although he had not personally met with any remarkable adventures or very narrow escapes while in the fighting line, companions had fallen on either side of him.”
Following his recuperation and then leave, he was posted not back to the 4th Battalion, but to the Reserve Battalion at Felixstowe, which allowed him to continue to carry out his duties as the Conservative Member for Ipswich; a position that he would retain with a short break, until 1938. It was also reported that during this time, he was offered a Captaincy in a City of London Regiment, but that he chose instead to continue to serve as a humble Lieutenant in 4th Suffolk.
Jack's photo above, showed him looking somewhat gaunt and walking with the aid of a stick. It was not until July that he was considered fit enough to return to front line duty in France.

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