Waiting room

I noticed this today in the waiting room at Preston station when I was passing through on my way to the ladies. Three and a quarter million service men over the four years. I wonder how many of them made it back home.

My dad started to make the journey up this West Coast line when the Great War was still on - he was sent to a far-off boarding school at the age of about 11. He must have seen the soldiers and sailors queuing for their tea and buns at this room whenever his train passed through Preston.