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from Manchester Evening
News, Monday January 24, 2000
Family of Fallen
Flanders war hero Harry reunited
BY NICK WEBSTER
RELATIVES of a First
World War soldier whose remains were found in a Flanders field visited
Bury today to honour his memory.
It was an emotional
day for Annette Wilkinson, who was told about the
discovery of her great-grandfather Harry’s body by the Manchester
Evening News after the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers issued an appeal to
find his family.
Annette was also
reunited with her mother’s cousin Harry’s grandaughter — June
Brammer, who she last saw 45 years ago when they were both children.
Lancashire Fusilier
Private Wilkinson was killed during an attack on German positions close to
the Franco-Belgian border on November 10, 1914. His body is believed to
have lain undisturbed where he fell in a field near the Belgian town of
Warneton ever since. The remains were found by a local historian earlier
this year.
Annette and June and
their families were invited to Bury by the regiment for a day of
commemorative events to mark the centenary of the Battle of Spion Kop in
the Boer War.
Together with 10 of
Harry’s other descendants, they stood at Bury’s Cenotaph as veterans
held a short service and laid wreaths.
Annette, from
Shrewsbury, said: "It has all been overwhelming and has made us very
proud. I’m sure he would have been touched, though a bit surprised at
all the fuss."
June added: ‘It has
been lovely to see each other again. I’m really thrilled."
Harry’s widow Eva
who was pregnant with June’s mother, Florence, and six-year-old son,
Harry, never knew what happened to him.
In the years after his
death, Harry Junior and Florence’s families lost touch.
Harry Jr. who died in
1986. remained in Bury, bringing up and adopting Annette after her mother
died.
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