Readers share their memories of loved ones who fought… and died

PTE Emmanuel Blease, of Congleton, Cheshire, enlisted on September 1914, aged 34. With the 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, he left for France a year later, where he faced action at the Battle of Loos then in the trenches around Ploegsteert, Belgium. He was shot in the leg but returned to the front at

ERon Byrom, 73, a retired businessman from Cheshire, tells of his grandfather’s brave service and the impact of his loss on his seven young children.

Abbeville, France, then Cambrai and Vimy Ridge. In June 1916, Annie, wife and mum of his seven children, died of tuberculosis.

Then, during a German attack on the Cheshire Regiment’s base near Ypres, Belgium, on October 27, 1917, Pte Blease died from

gunshot wounds. He received a Military Medal for bravery.

My mother was the youngest of their children, who were fostered out between aunts and uncles.

Each showed the same strength their father did in their fight to get on in life without their parents. Far too many men died in that horrible war. It’s our duty to remember them.

I’ve visited his grave in Belgium twice and wrote my mother’s name in the guest book. My elder sister Jean has gone to his graveside this week. FALLEN Pte Blease