Case Nº 002 · 1916–1918 · France & Flanders · example journey

The Missing Gunner

An illustrative example journey — a composite drawn from typical research of this kind, shown while client-approved cases are prepared.

The question

A client inherited three WW1 medals and a studio photograph of a great-uncle nobody could name. Which brother was he — and what happened to him?

The search

1. The medal index card matched the initials to the youngest of four brothers, an artilleryman — his service record among the 60% destroyed in the Blitz.

2. His battery’s war diary survived: day-by-day positions across the Somme and Passchendaele, including the week his gun position took a direct hit.

3. Pension ledgers confirmed a wound discharge in 1918 — he had survived, married his nurse, and emigrated in 1920.

The discovery

He wasn’t on any memorial because he didn’t die — the family had simply lost touch when he sailed for Canada. The research found his descendants in Ontario, who held the other half of the story: his diary, mentioning the brothers he never saw again.

“The war diary entry for that week is hard to read. But knowing he walked away from it, and where he went — that settled something in our family.”