John Blackburn was my Grandad's second cousin. They may have known each other, they may not - I have no idea. They lived quite close so it is possible. To me it doesn't matter - John is family and I am so proud of him. He sacrificed his life for his country. Army records show he had previously recovered from a gunshot to the left hand and pneumonia and returned to service, before dying of a penetrating shell wound to the chest 23rd August 1918, just a few months before the end of the war. He was just 27 and a Private in the 15th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. 

Every summer my husband and I take our young son to either Normandy for a visit to the D-Day beaches or to the Western Front. We feel it is vital that he and his generation know the history of these terrible conflicts, respect those who died so we could live in freedom and understand their duty to remember. We visit John at Fienvillers Cemetery with great pride and great sadness, hoping he knows we are there and that down the generations he is still loved and cared for. It is the very least we owe him.

Lindsey Strachan