Kaján Imre (szerk.): Zalai Múzeum 22. (Zalaegerszeg, 2015)
Bekő Tamás: Zalatárnokiak az első világháborúban, 1914–1918
246 Bekő Tamás Abstract The present study reviews biographical data and military service data of the years 1914-1918 of officers, NCOs and enlisted men born in Zalatárnok who took part in World War I. On the eve of the outbreak of the Great War the number of able-bodied population in Zalatárnok was around 300-350 people aged 20 to 50. Based on the current state of research, some 210 went to war and served at the fronts. The majority of men called up joined the infantry troops, mainly the two Nagykanizsa Corps, the Royal Hungarian 20th Infantry Regiment and the 48th Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment. The village lost 61 lives. After the Russian front the Italian battlefield cost the most lives. The service data collection was followed by on-site inspection and in-depth archive research. 1 analysed sources available mainly in the Zala County Archives of the Hungarian National Archives, the Military History Archives in Budapest and in the Austrian State Archives with the help of the Vienna branch of the Military History Institute and Museum. The biographical database contains the personal particulars of the enlisted men from Zalatárnok and the milestones of their participation in the war in alphabetical order irrespective of rank or status. While reconstructing the soldiers’ careers I tried to collect the following data: surname and first name, date and place of birth, place and date of death (in the case of soldiers who returned after the campaign), rank, father’s name and occupation, mother’s name, the person’s occupation, marital status; if married, his wife’s name, place and date of the marriage, the number of children, nicknames if one had, army unit, archives and oral information regarding the true and war battlefield service (honours, wounded, prisoner of war), in the case of hero’s death the circumstances, the place and date of their death, descendants’ memoirs, data on resources. In the final chapter of the study museum-piece, family-owned 100-110 year-old family photos, portraits of soldiers are presented.
