My great uncle Walter  came from the town of Sandy in Bedfordshire. He joined the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment in  1906 and therefore was one of the "Old Contemtables" he died on the 7th of November around the city of Ypes he died alongside on the same day as his friend Charles Braybrooks my great uncles number being 8766 and his friends number 8764. On my research I found that another friend of them was killed in 1916 his name was Edward Quince and his service number was 8765 which shows they all joine up together.

Great uncle Walter also had three brothers Jack (my late grandfather) Oscar, and William all who served in the Army and a sister Mary.

As a young child in Sandy I used to spend Saturday mornings with my grandad. At at 11 am all the brothers would meet on the corner of a street in Sandy and to have a general chat. Not a long chat but on how each other was then they would depart there different ways.

Considering this was in the fifties it never occurred to me the they must have been meeting like this over many years prior, as time has passed it has made me realise that the bond between them was strong, and I wonder if it was the loss of brother Walter which forged the bond.

God bless them all for the sacrifices they made.

together.

David Taverner