Pte Percy Charles Keightley, 41987, 2/5th West Yorks Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own), was killed in action shortly after going over the top with comrades in the advance on the Marne in France on July 20th, 1918.

The news was first received by parents Sidney Charles and Edith Keightley at 49 Cardiff Road, Luton, in a letter from one of their son's comrades. He wrote that Percy was buried in a little cemetery on the left of the Pourcy-Marfaux road.

Percy had joined up under the Derby Scheme in October 1916 at the age of 17½. He was first in the Motor Transport Section of the Army Service Corps, but was transferred with others the following Christmas to the West Yorks Regiment.

He went to the Front in January 1917 and was invalided home the following September suffering from trench fever and pneumonia. He recovered and returned to the battlefield in February 1918.

Born in Luton in 1898, he was an only son with two sisters. As a boy he had attended the Union Chapel Sunday school in Luton, and later worked in the straw hat trade for Messrs Currant & Creak, of 41 Bute Street.