It was nearly 12 months before the family of Pte Ernest Arthur Godfrey, 60808, 24th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, learned that he had probably been killed in action in France on April 29th, 1917. In August 1917 an appeal was published for any information about him after he had been reported missing on April 29th.

Pte Godfrey, a son of Arthur Frederick and Kitty Godfrey, of 21 Stockwood Crescent, Luton, had married Daisy Emily Going in Luton in the early summer of 1906. The couple has a son, Leslie Gilbert, born later in 1906, and a daughter Daphne Phyllis, born two years later.

Ernest and his family were living at 10 Granville Road, Luton, with Ernest working as a painter and decorator employed by his brother-in-law Oliver Dunham.

He joined the Royal Field Artillery (149940) in June 1916, later being drafted first to the Middlesex Regiment, and then the Royal Fusiliers. He went to France in October 1916, and the following month was wounded. He recovered at a base hospital, soon returning to the Front until reported missing on April 29th, 1917.