Eric Walter's Story.
Harold George Greswell was born in Marthall, Cheshire in 1896, the son of Walter (a clergyman) and Catherine Greswell late of The Vicarage, Marthall, who transferred to Milton Abbas Vicarage, Blandford, Dorset, but by the end of the war his father was living at Chalet du Buissin, Canford Cliffs, Bournemouth.
He enlisted in the army, becoming a Lieutenant in the 8th Battalion of the Cheshire regiment, before transferring, in early 1915, to the Royal Flying Corp, which became the Royal Air Force becoming a pilot in the 111th Squadron, flying SE5A aeroplanes.
He was hospitalised on the 13 December 1915 with myalgia (severe muscle pain) and later rheumatism. He was transferred to a hospital in Gibraltar and later returned to England to convalesce.
He returned to duty on the 5 March 1917.
He was killed on the 9 June 1918.
On that fateful day:
His surviving records show that he went missing in action on the 9 June 1918 when:
˜He never returned from an E.A. (enemy aircraft) patrol.
On the 3 September 1918, 2/Lt. Sarkorsky gave evidence that:
˜Eric was killed instantly when he was shot down in the neighbourhood of ET TIREH. He was buried in an olive grave close-by and a small cross was placed as a marker.'
He is the brother of Harold Greswell.
Researched and compiled by Tony Davies.