Soldier Record

Wally was born in 1899. This is what I know about him:

Full of fun, always cheerful and died because he volunteered.

Killed by sniper, aged 19, at Villers Guislain (White Goose Lane) on 29 September 1918. Volunteered, age 16 and his widowed mother had to buy him out of the army. Volunteered again and died within a week.

He was a larger than life character - always full of fun. At some stage he had a job looking after a delivery cart with horse or pony. One rainy day he came home at lunch time, and my great gran went into their hallway to find the pony in it. Well, it was raining and he felt sorry for the animal. They seem to have been quite a lively family. His sister Lizzie, who later was featured in a TV programme 'We Was All One', was also quite a live wire - for a dare she took a goat for a walk across the top of Tower Bridge (the very top part that the public can't access now).

The family were very poor indeed. Their father, also Walter, had been injured during the Boer War. There is some story that an officer on a white horse scooped him up and took him to safety, and that this officer was to have recommended him for the military medal, but himself was killed. Walter senior was often unable to work because of his injuries, and we have many stories of the eight children being very hungry, very often. Walter senior died in about 1908.

Two of the siblings, Mary Anne and Matthew, died - Mary Anne at age 7 and Matthew younger. I think they died of measles.

Walter Junior became a breadwinner, but at 16 he managed to join up into the army. Even though he was under age, my great gran, Emma Nice nee Rose, had to buy him out. At 18 he joined up again into the Middlesex Regiment. Apparently one of his first duties was to guard a whole lot of his friends who were 'under guard' for some misdemeanour.

He was sent to Villers Guislain, known to the Tommies as White Goose Lane. I don't know how long he was there - some of the family say only a week. The last member of the family to see him was my grandad, William Hanrahan, who later went on to marry Walter's sister Emma, my nan. Wally was going towards the front, and Grandad was coming away. 'What's it like Bill?', Wally asked. 'It's hell', said my Grandad.

Whether he was in a trench or somewhere else, I don't know, but he had just come into the guardhouse/dug out/whatever off duty when a sergeant came in needing someone to volunteer to do a job. As Wally hadn't taken his boots off, he volunteered. He went out and was hit in the head by a sniper on 29th September 1918.

At the moment of his death my nan Emma was going up the stairs at home. She stopped and screamed that he had died. Later they verified that she had done this at the moment he was shot.

After the war, there is a story that the family - who had now lost two breadwinners and were seriously on the breadline - were visited by someone asking for money so that Wally could have a grave. Clearly this is wrong because all servicemen either got graves or records if their bodies were not found. However my Nan and Auntie (Mary (Polly) Flanagan) were adamant that this person wanted money or Wally wouldn't get a grave. As far as I'm aware, all his siblings truly believed that he was denied burial because they had no money.

We visited his grave at 1. A. 10. VILLERS HILL BRITISH CEMETERY, VILLERS-GUISLAIN and of course he does have a grave and headstone. However, the headstone at that time only recorded his name, rank and date of death whereas other headstones had more information. I contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and we were able to add his age, parents and address to his record. CWGC also - and with incredible speed - amended his headstone to include his age and sent me photographs to show what had been done.

We'll never know who the person who visited the family was, or how the family came to think he had no grave, but I'm very grateful that CWGC reacted with such compassion and speed even 85 years after his death.