BBC Remembrance Wall

[mandy hall]

Hello Graham

Did you know what's left of Wilfred's service record is online at Ancestry?

Mandy

[gem]

Hi Mandy,

Yes thank you Mandy i have a copy of that, i also have a copy of the KRR Chronicles which has a description of the battle in which Wilfred was killed.

My cousin is attempting to trace mr Taggart

Regards Graham

[gem]

My cousin tracked down the owner of the photos and medals this was his email reply to my cousin quite amazing really

Hi Alex,
Nice to hear from you. I am sure Donnie will be able to provide lots of
the information you are looking for.

I was amazed that you mentioned you had been in contact with a relative
of Wilfred Claude March. I have indeed got his medals, death plaque,
death scroll and a fantastic picture of Wilfred in his Dress Uniform
going off to war , on the back of which he has inscribed " To Dear
Mother From Wilfred May 1915" He was Killed in Action only two months
later on 30th July 2015.
I purchased the medals as a young 14year old child when Donnie and I
started collecting war medals as our main hobby.
Unfortunately when I left home to join Woolworth in Management, Donnie
sold the medals a few years later to pay for a pram for his son Barry!
This led to a major fallout as they had not been his to sell. For years
I always wondered where they had ended up.

Over 30 years later I "googled" Wilfred Claude March and was astonished
to find his medals up for sale. I quickly bought them back for 40 times
more than I had originally paid in 1973. They had been parted with the
photograph and the scroll unfortunately, and I was dissapointed they
could not be reunited.
Imagine my surprise when about 5 years later Eileen my Wife rang me at
work to say she had been going through my Dads old photo collection and
had found both the photo and the scroll in with his stuff. Donnie had
forgotten he had only sold the medals!

Eileen and I travelled down to London last September and visited the
home of Wilfred Claude March in Eyot Gardens Hammersmith. It was a
moving experience knowing he had walked out of there to go off to War
and never returned. We intend to celebrate the centenary of his death
next July by going to The Menin Gate Memorial where his name is
engraved and attend the Last Post ceremony that is played each evening.
We will also go Hooge just down the road, where he was killed in
Action. We always felt that as his medals were sold off at some time in
the past that we would not forget this young lad and have sort of
adopted him!

[mandy hall]

Glad you managed to find him. Lovely photo of Wilfred.

Mandy