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War heroes’ hidden stories uncovered by student to ‘give a voice to those who fought for us’
A university student has helped to unearth stories about war heroes.
Erika Fogg, from Accrington, and her fellow students Kai Barclay and Adam Stewart from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) are working on a project that focuses on people who sacrificed their lives for the country.
The three second year BA Hons History students are working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to discover information about some of the 506 veterans who died during the First and Second World Wars and are buried in Preston’s New Hall Lane Cemetery.
The heroes’ stories were told by the students in free guided walking tours during War Graves Week on May 22 and 23 at New Hall Lane Cemetery.
Erika, 25, said: “It is the first time these tours are being done in Preston’s New Hall Lane Cemetery.
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“We hope to give a life and a voice to those who fought for our country.
“It is awful we could only select five people out of 506 people due to time and resources, but we hope that this will encourage other people to do their own tours and volunteer Commonwealth War Graves Commission so that the public can hear about more people and their stories.
“Although the research could be difficult at times, it has been really interesting and fascinating finding information I did not know before.
“We also did research on a woman which we thought would be interesting since you don’t hear much about women involved in the war effort and we looked at those fighting on the war ships to get a different perspective on the war.”
Erika says she was drawn to Private William Young’s tragic story.
Young, who joined the war effort at the age of 15, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. He received the special honour after saving a comrade’s life on the battlefield in France.
William, who was originally from Scotland, married a Preston woman and settled in the city before the First World War broke out.
He suffered from a bullet wound but returned to fight and was subsequently gassed, which led him to develop eyesight issues. When he got better he then returned to the battlefield.
William was shot in the jaw and chest while rescuing Sergeant Allan from no-man’s land under heavy enemy fire. He died from heart failure at the age of 39 while he was undergoing his third operation to reconstruct his damaged jaw.
The students found information from a variety of materials such as ancestory.com, the Lancashire archive and Whittingham Emergency Hospital.
Erika, Kai and Adam also did a presentation which covered their research, how the tours went and a poet and a professional from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission attended.
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