Walter's Story.
Birkenhead News 31 May 1916Rock Ferry Patriot Dies of Wounds.
“Awfully Plucky Boy.”
On the 23rd May, from the 1st Australian General Hospital, the Rev. W. G. A. Green, Church of England Chaplain to the Forces, dispatched a letter to Mrs. Green, of 35, Nelson Road, Rock Ferry, conveying the news of the death of her son, Pte. Walter Green, of the Cheshire Regiment. In the course of the letter the Chaplain writes :- “At 3 o’clock this afternoon I committed to the ground the body of Pte. Walter Green, and I am enclosing a letter written by him last Saturday when he, and we, thought he was going to recover. He made his Communion on Sunday morning at 7.45 in bed. I saw him on Monday morning and he seemed quite bright, but he passed away at mid-day on Monday, May 22nd. He is buried at St. Sever’s Cemetery. The poor boy was awfully plucky all through. I have kept two of the empty shells used by the French firing party over his grave, which I shall forward. Do all of you try and think of it as a temporary separation, and not as a permanent loss, and do not forget to pray for him.”
Pte. Green was but 26 years old and was the youngest son of his widowed mother. He was also a brother of the well-known local footballer Tommy Green. He joined the Cheshires at the outbreak of hostilities, and has been on active service for nine months. In civil life he was employed in the perfumery department of Lever Bros., where he was a general favourite, and his loss will cause widespread regret. He was a member of St. Peter’s Church, and an active member of St. Barnabas P.S.A.
A very pathetic feature of the case is that the dead hero’s fiancée and his brother had proceeded to France in the hope of seeing him, but he had been buried two hours before their arrival.
Photograph of Walter and newspaper article by Chris Booth