Soldier Record

My Uncle Ken (KWO Barber) once told me that, during the First World War, his father, Walter Barber, who helped his comrades escape from Passchendaele in April 1918, had also saved the life of an officer who, after the war, sent him £1 every Christmas and an inscribed cigarette case.

We each have our time, yes we each have our time

I have researched this story and discovered, among other things, that, interviewed on his 100th birthday in 1981, the officer, Lt F H Vince, said "I was sent with four others to cover the retreat of our troops from Ypres Salient. We were supposed to be there for 24 hours - we were there for four days and four nights, from April 11 to April 16, 1918. We got the wind up because the Very lights used to go up behind us instead of in front of us and it was very disconcerting. I made one of the men with me unpaid Lance Corporal, a gunner named Walter Barber, and neither of us knew at the time that the other came from Watford. After the war I gave him a silver cigarette case with the date on it (but he didn't smoke) and for over 50 years I sent him £1 every year to drink my health. He didn't need it and I didn't miss it."