EPITAPH

Walter Davis survived the Great War where so many of his comrades fell. 

He married his sweetheart Florrie Buxton and they had two children, a daughter Gladys and a son Norman (perhaps named in honour of Walter’s friend Jim Norman who died in May 1916). 

Norman himself went on to serve and fight through North Africa, Persia, Iraq and Burma, where he was wounded in action during WW2. 

Walter’s war was not one charged with heroics but he served his King and his country with distinction and a devotion to duty. 

He and Florrie lived in Romiley for the rest of their lives; Walter died in 1959, just six days after his 72nd birthday. 

Brian Warren

Abu Dhabi 

8 May 2009

Footnote

In January 2023, I celebrated my 70th Birthday. As a surprise, knowing my great interest in World War One, my sister Christine, son James and daughter Rebecca, spirited me away for a visit to Ypres in Belgium.

We visited Essex Farm Cemetery, where in 1915, the Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae was moved to write the poem "In Flanders Field".  Langemark Cemetery, where more than 44,000 German soldiers are buried and Tyne Cot Cemetery, where 37,000 UK and Commonwealth servicemen are interred.

The ceremony of the "Last Post" at the Menin Gate in Ypres was deeply moving.

Viewing the memorials and cemeteries I was reminded of Captain Christmas, Serjeant Norman and Private Daines.  With little persuasion, we drove South-West from Ypres to the villages of Hénu and St Amand in the Pas de Calais.

On a bitingly cold but sunny day under a clear blue sky, to stand at the graves of those three individuals, whose stories I first learned when I read Walter Davis's diaries was very emotional.  To walk in the footsteps of my Great Uncle Walter who had borne Jim Norman to his final resting place was a poignant moment.

Brian Warren, Portugal, 4 February 2023

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them".