Our dad never spoke of his father John Bruce Cooper as he never knew him as he died before he was born. It was during a Rembrance Service at the Cenotaph five years ago that it dawned on me that I had not given any thought to my grandad and that set me off on the trail to find out when he died and where he was buried. His son and my dad William Cooper died in 1968 so all I had was a name. I was greatly helped by the Country Library in Newcastle and eventually had enough information for me to locate the cemetry in France which I visited in 2010. They were also able to supply a copy of a photograph and it was amazing to see how like my sister and her son he was. His birth certificate showed that he was born on 3 August so his birthday was a day before the start of the Great War. Marie Cooper, Barbara Mills, Rosalyn De La Lama

Barbara Mills