Rhys was a miner from Seven Sisters, in the Dulais Valley near Neath. He enlisted in September 1914 and trained at Winchester. In August 1915, he wrote home describing how after "travelling many a hundred mile by foot and rail and boat, we have been resting in billets amidst the fields of corn and fruit trees".He wrote regularly to family and friends, his last letter finishing with " So when next you write you needn't worry about putting advice about not looking on the dark side of things for there is no dark side here. Do you "compris" as the French say?" He was injured on 25th September and was taken to a dressing station by a friend who sat with him but who was then called away. The dressing station was shelled and Rhys lost his life. The Battalion 2nd Lieutenant, C. Foster Brown wrote in a letter to Rhys mother that "I know all the men were devoted to him and he died a very glorious death".
Alison Phillips