In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
Certificate: WARREN, WILLIAM ARTHUR – courtesy of Commonwealth War Graves Commission
William Arthur Warren was born in 1896 in Symondsbury/Chideock at Frogmore Cottage, Dairy House Lane, Bridport, Dorset. He was the son of Richard Warren and Mary Hannah Warren. He had a sister Kate (possibly a twin) and younger brother Percy. In the 1901 Census his father was listed as a Cattleman.
William was Killed In Action in Flanders on 31st March 1918.
During the German spring advance, Pozieres was lost in 1918, and retaken five months later. The memorial commemorates 14,669 men according to the CWGC website, mainly from the UK but also about 320 South African soldiers. The figures in the register on site are a little lower.
This is one of those sites that brings home the scale of this war. Not far away is the Thiepval memorial; better known and perhaps a more obvious symbol of the losses. But here is a relatively “small” memorial, associated with one fairly small part of the Western Front and one fairly short period of the war. Yes, it was a particularly bloody battle, yet there are nearly 15,000 names here alone and this represents only those who have no known grave.
In Memory of
Private WILLIAM A WARREN
241974, 2nd/5th Battalion , Gloucestershire Regiment
who died age 22 on 31st March 1918
Remembered with honour at
THE POZIERES MEMORIAL in France and THE CHIDEOCK WAR MEMORIAL in Dorset