Walter Ford
Memorial: Wick - St Bartholomew's Church
Regiment: Machine Gun Corps
Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 121826
Parents: Sarah and George Ford
Marital status: Single
Home address: Wick, Bristol
Pre-war occupation: Schoolboy
Date of birth: 1899
Place of birth: Wick, Bristol
Date of death: 21/03/1918
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and Wick Memorial.
Age: 19
Further information:
Walter was born in Wick, in the 1st quarter of 1899, the son of a plasterer and the eldest of three brothers. Walter’s father died in Cossham Hospital Kingswood when Walter was just 10 years old. In 1911 Walter’s mother was working as a laundress and all three boys were still at school.
Walter served with the 6th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps.
Walter was killed in action on the first day of the German Spring Offensive (21 March – 18 July 1918) the outcome of which was a German failure that cost the allies 860,000 casualties. Walter’s body was never identified and The Arras Memorial where he is remembered, commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave.
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/