thosewhosurvived

graves

IN MEMORy by Pierre Vandervelden

The visit of Commonwealth graves in Communals Cemeteries & Churchyards in Belgium & France

Private William EVANS for his daughters Mavis Peacock (nee Evans) and Pauline Evans

William Evans 06.01.1898 - 20.07.1978

William enlisted on 19/01/16 and followed his elder brother Sgt Robert Evans MM (who was killed on 24/10/1918 and buried in Forest Communal Cemetery) into The King's Liverpool Regiment.
He was mobilised on 2/08/16 and sent to France.
At the beginning of July 1917, he suffered a shrapnel wound to the head.
A nurse in the casualty clearing station wrote to let his parents know that he was very ill.
He had a metal plate inserted in his skull and was discharged as being no longer physically fit for war service on 19/10/17.
He was sent to Boscombe Military Hospital to recuperate.
William's total service was 1 year 96 days, 247 days were served in France.

William married May Hearn on 29/09/1934.
He had a successful career in the Civil Service working in the Passport Office and then Customs Office in Liverpool.
When WW2 broke out, he volunteered to be posted, on loan, to the War Office in Droitwich and then London.
William was transferred to The Ministry of Food in Colwyn Bay in 1947 and moved to Guildford with his family when The Ministry of Food was relocated there.

He never spoke about his experiences during WW1 except to show us, as children, the ‘dent’ in his head.