William Frederick Reason was born in 1893 in the small Suffolk village of Creeting St Peter. He joined the Army in 1914 and went to France to reinforce the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment on April 1st 1915. In July 1916 the Battalion moved to the Somme. William was wounded in action on October 7th 1916, but returned to active duty in time to take part in an attack on the heavily fortified village of Serre on November 13th. The attack took place before dawn, in misty conditions. Progress proved difficult in the face of poor visibility and fierce German resistance and it soon became clear that the operation had failed to achieve its objectives. William was one of 178 men listed as ****ed or missing in action.

Christopher Reason