MEMBERS of the Malmesbury branch of the Royal British Legion travelled to the battlefields of Belgium to pay their respects to men from North Wiltshire who gave their lives during World War One.

The group of five, who were led by the branch’s treasurer Charles Vernon, visited the Menin Gate as well as various other battle sites and and museums in the Ypres Salient.

The Menin Gate, which is dedicated to British and Commonwealth soldiers whose graves are unknown, features 14 names from North Wiltshire including Private WE Wakefield, Pte AE Bailey and Tpr G Oran from Malmesbury; Lieutenant JH Leckie, Pte G White and Pte AE Goodfield from Crudwell, Pte T Sherwood and Pte J Chappell from Sherston; Pte F Heavens and Pte T Long from Ashton Keynes and Pte A Snell (Luckington), Lieutenant Corporal AC Hayes (Hankerton), Sergeant JRB Morse (Minety) and Corporal W Bailey (Little Somerford).

More than 30 other men from North Wiltshire also gave their lives in and around Ypres between 1914-1918.

The group also visited other sites including Lijssenthoek cemetery, Ypres Reservoir, Reutel, Hooge, Langemarck German cemetery, St Julien, In Flanders Field Museum, V l a m e r t i n g h e cemetery, Westvleteren Belgian cemetery, and Zonnebeke Museum.

Charles said: “My wife Val and I visit the First World War battlefields annually to investigate family or local connections.

"Last year we went to the Somme and this year Ypres.

“The object was to follow the fortunes of the Wiltshire Regiment 1914-1918 with particular reference to local men, including those from other regiments.

"We walked the location where 2 Battalion Wilts were over-run on October 24, 1914 but had fought the Germans to a standstill even though there were no reserves.

“We visited German, Belgian & French cemeteries to see the different ways in which the nations dealt with their dead.

“At each place local stories as well as other interesting tales were told.

"For example at Lijssenthoek, the site of several medical units, respects were paid to George Bartlett from Luckington, William Evans from Sherston and Nellie Spindler, one of two nurses killed in the area whose funeral was attended by hundreds of officers including the Surgeon General.

“I laid a wreath on behalf of the Malmesbury branch of the Royal British Legion and spoke at the epitaph at the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony where 14 men from the Malmesbury area are included among the 54,396 names on the memorial.”