FRANK KEEN was serving as a Private with the 8th Battalion, The Princess Charlotte of Wales Regiment, (The Royal Berkshire Regiment) when he was killed in action on 23rd October 1918. He was aged 20 and is buried in the Highland cemetery at Le Cateau.

He was the son, one of 8 children of Joseph and Patience Keen of Chapel House, Over Norton and the brother of Joseph who also died in the war.

Frank Keen had been working as a groom before enlisting into the 4th Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 28th September 1916. After training he embarked at Southampton for Le Havre, arriving on 21st July 1917. After further training at a base depot he was posted to the 6th Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, arriving in the field on 5th August. He was wounded on 19th November 1917, after the Battle of Passchendaele, suffering the effects from a mustard gas shell. After time in hospital in Wimereux he returned home on 27th November. On 3rd April 1918 he returned to France, joining the 8th Battalion on 14th April 1918. On 1st August he was fined a days pay for being absent at roll call and 4 days Field Punishment No 2, being placed in fetters and handcuffs, for "irregular behaviour". The Battalion was at Le Cateau on 23rd October 1918 when they began the advance on Valenciennes at 0120 under a creeping barrage. The Germans retaliated by shelling the Battalion's lines causing 15 causalities, including Frank Keen.

Steve Kingsford