Radio Features

For over 80 years a Shropshire family didn't even know they had an Uncle John who fought in World War I. Now on the 90th anniversary of his death, they make a special pilgrimage to his grave to say a very special thank you.

Private John Blakeway

I first met Clive and Barbara Blakeway in Sambrook, near Newport, in August 2007. We soon became good friends and embarked on a research campaign to find out as much as we could about John Blakeway - who, like many others, had lied about his age and joined-up at 17 years old to serve King and country.

Clive had already obtained regimental diaries about the movements of John's company -  the 205 Machine Gun Corps - around 5 November 1917. The date marked the third battle of Ypres, perhaps better known as the battle of Passchendaele.

Near and far

As we tried to find out more about John we visited his birthplace in Blackheath, as well as the local church, where his name is recorded on the memorial (along with many others from the area who died in WWI). Clive's father was also born on the same street as John, but there had been a lot of redevelopment over the years and little remained of his era.

Nick meets WWI veteran Harry Patch

During our quest, bits of information, photos, records, regimental material had all given us a glimpse of what John had done, and where he had been - but one moment was to bring history to life. A while after visiting Blackheath we made the trip to Somerset to meet the last WWI veteran to serve in the trenches, Harry Patch.

That meeting was a revelation - Harry Patch told us about trench life, how he had to deal with knee-high mud and the constant threat of death. There were a few tears that day I can tell you. Then Harry told us about his Shropshire connections, something which took us all by surprise. Harry's wife Ada was originally from Hadley - the couple married at Holy Trinity Church and enjoyed their honeymoon in Church Stretton. But while Harry had survived the trenches, John had not. Yet it could just as easily have been John sitting there, rather than Harry.

Pinpointing the trenches

In John's footsteps

With many questions about John Blakeway remaining unanswered, we made the journey across the English Channel, through France and eventually reaching Ypres in Belgium. Now I'm not the best at talking Flemish, so we had a few interesting conversations while trying to find our hotel in Dikkebus.

A new day and back to our journey - Iain McHenry and Annette Camalou were our guides as we attempted to follow in the footsteps of John Blakeway. Iain using trench maps took us to Fitzclarence farm and Polderhoek where we knew John's machine gun company had been, just a few days before he was killed.

Eddy and Patrick Meyfroid

Iain showed us exactly where the farm and trenches would have been thanks to his GPS system. Annette then took us around Dikkebus where John's company HQ and rest areas were in November 1917. We discovered that the regimental diary indicated there was a heavy barrage placed on the rest areas around the time John was killed.

We realised that this was as close as we were going to get to find out what happened to John.

I knew it would be a very emotional journey but I wasn't prepared for the final stage, as we visited John's grave at the Huts cemetery in Dikkebus.

I must thank everyone for their help during the series, there are simply too many to mention, but I'd like to thank Clive and Barbara - I think John would be very proud of you. I think it's a story which helps to remind us, to remember everyone who has been affected by war and conflict.

My lasting memory of the series came when I was approached by a gentleman at the Menin Gate's last post ceremony. He said to me, "thank you for coming, we need to remember them." That simple statement made me look up to the names of thousands of soldiers who were killed in the Great War, 'their names liveth for evermore'. But what did he mean? Well quite simply he meant we must keep the memories of the fallen, and those affected by war, alive.