Family remembered as princess unveils war horse statue

The sculpture pays tribute to the hundreds of thousands of horses and mules prepared for the front during the First World War at the Remount camp on Pauncefoot Hill on the outskirts of the town.

Vera’s father rode to war on just such a horse.

Vera Blundell.

Cyril Haysom enlisted in 1914 was a mounted soldier who served throughout the Great War, surviving the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey and eventually becoming part of the army of occupation in Germany in 1919.

Cyril’s sister Maud with her husband Jack Benefiel, a US soldier.

Vera has photographs of her father, who was born in Southampton in 1892, on his war horse in France in 1914. The photograph was taken before Cyril’s part in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915, where his regiment fought on foot, during which he was wounded in the ear by flying shrapnel – an injury that left him deaf in one ear for the rest of his life.

Cyril Haysom.

Vera’s knowledge of her father’s service is somewhat sketchy as, like so many of his contemporaries, Cyril said little of his wartime experiences. However, she believes his wound meant that Cyril spent a large part of the war in Blighty.

Vera’s other connection to the war horse comes through her aunt Maud, Cyril’s sister, who married an American mounted soldier, Jack Benefiel, who worked at the Romsey Remount camp.

“She was ticket collector at Romsey station and the soldiers from the camp would take to the train to Southampton for a night out,” said Vera.

Maud married Jack in Romsey Abbey and returned with him to Banks, Oregon where his family ran the village store.