Walter Gay
Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 204026
Parents: George and Sarah Ann Gay
Home address: Hollyhill Road, Kingswood, Bristol
Date of birth: 07/12/1889
Place of birth: Kingswood, Bristol
Date of death: 04/06/1918
Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at St. Souplet British Cemetery, Nord, France. Commemorated Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial and Kingswood School Memorial
Age: 27
Further information:
Walter was born in Kingswood the son of a bootmaker and the youngest child of nine with four brothers and four sisters most of whom were employed in the boot trade and to whom on his death, he left his effects divided equally.
Walter's battalion (the 10th) mobilised to France in August 1915 where they took part in various actions on the Western Front including The Battle of Loos and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. Walter was captured on 24/3/1918 at Cugny on the third day of the German Offensive, Operation Michael, and held at Aus Dem Felde camp. He died in a German POW hospital which was based in a church at Ecourt St Quentin. Walter would have been buried by his German captors in a nearby graveyard then reburied in the British cemetery following the armistice.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/