Walter was my great-grandfather. 

Nobody really talked about him. Life was such a struggle for his family after he was killed and his wife was devastated that he'd volunteered to fight. His war medal was forgotten in a drawer and the letters he wrote home were screwed up in the back of a sideboard. 

Walt was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The letter from his commanding officer says that they tried to keep him back because he was an 'older man' (he was 37) with a family, but obviously every man was wanted for the Big Push. 

His body was never found. 

I can't imagine how hard it was for him to leave his wife and four young children and face the horror of the trenches. But he and his friends felt it was their Christian duty to answer Kitchener's call. 

Like so many families around the world, my grandmother's family was destroyed by the Great War. But I am immensely proud of Walter and so grateful for all who fight to defend freedom. 

Alison Utting