Private Walter Atkins fought with his brothers at the Battle of the Somme where Walter, in the 9th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, lost his life. The 20-year-old was shot in the leg on the battlefield and lay there all night undiscovered. A German soldier found him at dawn, amongst a scattering of dead bodies, and took him back to the field hospital behind enemy lines. He was treated by German medics but died of his wounds a few days later on October 1, 1916.

Shaun Church