A COMMEMORATIVE exhibition to mark the centenary of ‘The War to End all Wars’ has been running at Haslemere Museum throughout June.

The display was mounted by Haslemere’s Great War Centenary Project committee and includes poignant memorabilia – goggles and a lucky mascot – belonging to Chiddingfold airman Harry Ashlin, a member of the Royal Flying Corps.

Fortunately he survived the Great War and served in WWII as a Wing Commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force, based at nearby Dunsfold Aerodrome.

A famous French recruitment poster ‘On les aura’ (We’ll Get Them) is featured among a wide range of artefacts from all camps, both allied – Britain, France, Russia and the United States – and central powers Germany, Austria, Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

Historice items from the European and African theatres of war are also on display, ranging from water canteens and belt buckles to helmets and weapons.

A German screw picket or ‘pig tail’ through which barbed wire was threaded is a chilling reminder of trench warfare, together with a pocket bayonet periscope. Commanding one wall is a wooden Avro 504 aircraft propeller.

The exhibition runs until Wednesday, June 20.