Eric George's Story.
Birkenhead News 17 June 1916
Two Brothers Die.
An Only Surviving Son Fallen.
Another brave young Oxton soldier, we regret to state, has fallen on the battlefield. Private Eric George Vance, who was only 19 years of age, is reported to have been killed on the night of June 5th on his way to the trenches, being shot through the heart by a sniper whilst serving with the King’s Liverpool (attached to the 2/4 Gloucester Regiment). It will be remembered that Private Eric Vance and his brother Lance Corporal Arthur Patrick Vance joined the Army in the early days of the war, their portraits appearing in our “Gallery” some eighteen months since. Lance Corporal Arthur Patrick Vance was killed not long after going out to the front. Shortly afterwards the parents of the fallen soldier returned to Chili, where they had formerly resided, and now the sad news has been conveyed to them that their only surviving son has given his life for King and country.
The father of Private Eric Vance is Mr. Thomas Arthur Vance of Huesco, Chili, his grandfather being the late Mr. Patrick Vance, of Liverpool. Some three weeks ago Private Eric Vance was on leave staying with relatives in Oxton. He was then in the best of health, and very cheerful. He was educated at Cheltonia College, Streatham, and Birkenhead School