5FT 2IN AMPUTEE IS STILL Pint-sized war hero who fought for other wounded veterans

reservist Stuart, a former picture framer from Catterick, North Yorks, had been waiting to be discharged. He said: “Blesma stepped in. A support officer, Peter Shields, visited me and they have always been there for me.” There was no such support for Wilf returning from the horrors of trench warfare to the crushing disappointment of life on the scrap heap in Britain. His remarkable diary, titled Wasted Effort, reveals how an 18-year-old, eight-stone Wilf was a repeated visitor to his local recruiting office in Middlesbrough. He was rejected because of his size. But he persisted and was eventually enlisted as a signaller in the 4th Yorkshire Battalion, the Green Howards – just in time for the Somme, a five-month battle that killed or wounded more than a million men.

After encountering their first bombardment, he recalled: “We were not soldiers now, merely a bunch of frightened boys.”

The diary entries start showing the gallows humour that soldiers used to insulate themselves against tragedy.

Sacked

Wilf risked his life almost daily by sneaking into no man’s land, within breathing distance of German lines, to repair breakages and establish communication between units.

Incredibly, he escaped with his life but as an amputee he did not survive in his old job as an engineering draughtsman.

He was one of three disabled war veterans sacked on the same day.

His manager echoed widespread sentiments when he said: “You ex- servicemen are a nuisance. You are behind in your experience,