Take Greg Powell, of Valentine, for example, whose story stretches way back to World War I (1914-18) and is quite remarkable.

And today, almost on the eve of the old Armistice Day, now marked on calendars as Remembrance Day, seems an appropriate time to re-tell this largely unknown family tale.

Armistice Day originally marked the momentous day on November 11, 1918 (or 11/11/18) when the artillery guns on all sides finally fell silent in what was then ironically described as the Great War, or the "war to end all wars", claiming millions of lives.

Noted Hunter Valley author and bushwalker Powell really appreciates how fortunate he is to be around.

"If my grandfather James Oliver Cherry hadn't survived serving in World War I, I wouldn't exist," Powell admits candidly.

It really was a miracle that warrant officer (WO) Cherry of Australia's 35th Battalion, better known as "Newcastle's Own", did somehow survive.

Cherry was billeted in a hut on an exposed aerodrome on March 31, 1918, outside the French village of Cachy, a few kilometres south-west of the later famous Villers-Bretonneux.

The Germans had not yet captured Villers-Bretonneux in their huge, ongoing spring offensive. Cachy had seemed safe, sort of, for the Aussie troops.

That's when Cherry escaped a potentially fatal wound when suddenly struck in the head by shrapnel from probably a random German enemy shell.

"He was sitting on a box inside a hut looking down at his map. A 'whiz-bang' (a shell of tremendous high velocity) landed at the entrance to his hut and exploded outwards and sideways," Powell said.

"The explosion even shredded the coats hanging on walls either side of the doorway, but did not explode inwards. The force knocked my grandfather backwards off the box."

Blood was all over the map from Cherry's head wound. He stood up and wiped the map before surveying the damage and being thankful the shell had not fully exploded forward.

"The site of his wounding at Cachy is marked on his surviving map with a pencilled cross within a circle. Apart from blood stains, this is the map's only mark," Powell said.

"I know all this because I have his neat war diary, still in excellent condition, as is his blood-smeared map. I've further preserved it by laminating it, blood and all. I now keep it stuck to the low ceiling in my study above my desk. It's very safe there," he said.

"I inherited it from my mum who died in 2017. She wasn't born until 10 years back home after World War I ended. She was described as being a 'surprise' baby," Powell said.

"That's why she doesn't feature in a family photo, I have also saved one of James in uniform, his wife Ethel and their three other children. It's a pre-war photo.

"And despite James moving about earlier when working in the Hunter mining industry, in administration, he was always a Coalfields man."

Family historian Powell said his family didn't want to be reminded later of what a close shave WO James Cherry had in 1918 when so many other troops had died.

"I remember when referring to the (historic) map, they always said it was the one with the blur-ed, you know, instead of using the word, blood."

Cherry himself dismissed his head wound as "a scratch", but still spent 17 days in hospital.

"But it would seem it was more than just a scratch on his forehead," grandson Powell said.

"There's a lot of wiped-off blood stains on the map. In following years, James Cherry could not turn his head without turning his upper body, as when looking hard right from the driver's side car window. In his later years (1960s-1970s), he wore a permanent neck brace."

James Oliver Cherry died on April 7, 1976, aged 89.

His grandson said WO Cherry was released from hospital in France just before the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux where the Australian battalions scored a total victory, dislodging the German enemy from their newly seized French town.

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After a surprise night attack by Aussies, costing the lives of 2400 soldiers, the strategic town was amazingly recaptured. The battle played a crucial role in the Allies winning WWI.

"It was the third anniversary of the original Anzac Day. From the heights there, the Germans would have shelled the crucial rail hub of nearby Amiens," Powell said.

"The revitalised German Army had begun its massive offensive in the south towards Amiens on March 21, 1918. British forces were pushed back many kilometres and the Australian divisions were ordered south to help block the enemy advance.

"James Cherry's diary gives many insights. The Aussies had a hectic journey south by lorry, train and by imported London buses brought in as troop transports, would you believe," Powell said.

With WWI close to ending, one of Cherry's tasks as Regimental Quarter Master for his 35th Battalion was to collect and dispatch war souvenirs and trophies back to Australia.

Cherry soon dispatched nine German machine guns and two trench mortars to the Mayor of Newcastle for future public display. He also sent a German watch back home to his little son Stan and also a tassel off a German officer's dress bayonet frog (scabbard). There is, however, no family knowledge now of the location of these items.

Of more general interest, is that in Lake Macquarie's Speers Point Park today stands a heavy, restored WWI trench mortar on a pedestal.

Powell said it's now probably the only large WWI trophy left on display in the Lower Hunter. A similar old Minenwerfer had been on show in Shortland Park near Newcastle Beach, but after 103 years has long disappeared.

Dungog and Muswellbrook each both have heavy trench mortars, while Waratah Golf Club at Cockle Creek also has a machine gun pointing down the fairway.

Powell once also believed it "very likely" the rare Speers Point trench mortar had been one of the two sent by Cherry to Newcastle's mayor back in 1918.

"But now I believe probably all war trophies just went into a general pot to be distributed to cities and towns based on a population basis," he said.

Three Cherry family names are now commemorated on Speers Point Park's WWI honour roll while Cherry's Bridge at Barnsley is named after relative Duncan Cherry, Powell said.