Pte Bernard Andrews Bone, 57804, 1/5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, died in No. 4 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in France on September 30th, 1918, the day after he was struck by an enemy shell.

A chaplain wrote to widowed mother Florence Lavinia Bone at 39 New Town Street, Luton: “He was brought down by ambulance from the front line on September 29th. He was struck by a shell from the enemy causing bad fractures of both legs, and his hands and face were slightly wounded. The fearful shock to his whole nervous system was an alarming factor.

“He was quite cheerful at first. Everything that the best surgeons and nurses could do was done for your dear boy...he was well prepared to go. When I asked him what message I should send to you he simply said, 'Give her my love and tell her that I did my duty for God and country, and if God sees fit to take me I am not afraid of death'.”

The chaplain added that her son was buried in a British soldiers' cemetery, where he rested beside many brave comrades.

Prior to the war, Pte Bone worked at George Kent's Ltd and was a Territorial. He joined up with the East Anglian Royal Engineers (No. 1019) in 1914 and was later transferred to the Cheshire Regiment.

He had been wounded three times and had suffered from trench fever. He returned to France for the last time in March 1918.