This blog is in two parts and covers the narrative behind a collection of military photographs, delving into the story of my father’s military career, his passion for motorbikes, and the loss of a comrade. Furthermore, how these photos would lead to reuniting a military set of photographs to the family, and the intriguing story of friendship behind them.

The story begins with a sizable collection of photographs which needed to be sorted out, Photos that were passed down to my late parents. My plan was to one day sort them out, not knowing on a Sunday morning in September 2022 it would be that day! Three hours later I came across my late father’s personal military photo album. My father served in the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and was stationed in Windsor, Berkshire, in 1947 he was sent overseas.

This album which he had meticulously assembled, was a photographic chronology of his time serving overseas in Germany, Tripoli, Palestine, and Libya. Regrettably, after living in the garage for many years the album was damaged and showing signs of water damage. I decided to transfer the photos in the same order into a new album to save them from further damage and keep them safe. Whilst going through the photos, I came upon a collection of remarkably well-preserved photographs- which in particular caught my attention they were of a named soldier Cyril ‘Hucky’ Walker.

The set of photos was the funeral of Guardsmen Walker who had passed away in November 1950, and Dad had captured his military funeral through his camera lens. Cyril ‘Hucky” Walker died in November 1950 and was given a full military funeral, one of Cyril’s relatives attended but the person’s identity was not recorded in the album. I had no idea who this man was, and I don’t recall my father ever mentioning him. However, I was struck by the fact these photos were in such good condition, it saddened me to think there was every likelihood they could get lost or destroyed.

Guardsman Cyril “Hucky” Walker

The impact of these photos compelled me to take action and I decided I would attempt to reunite them with Cyril’s family. Despite the fact that Cyril was not known to our own family, it would in my opinion be a disservice for these photos to be lost to his relatives. With great care, I removed the photos from the album and embarked on a mission to locate the Walker family. Unfortunately, I had very limited information about Cyril, only his name, and the month and year of his death. The circumstances surrounding his death were a mystery to me. I vaguely recall my father mentioning the loss of some of his army comrades due to various incidents, which led me to speculate if Cyril had also fallen victim to a similar tragedy.

So, later that morning I embarked on a search for Cyril’s family, with nothing really to go on I searched the newspaper archives in hopes of finding any reports about his death, I searched the online family history sites to ascertain if there would be any records on overseas deaths, all to no avail. Undeterred, why I did it I really don’t know I Googled Cyril’s name, hoping that his death might have been documented somewhere, a long shot but never say never.

This search did not take very long…….much to my total surprise I found a message on www.wartimememories.co.uk

Pte. Cyril Walker. British Army 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards:

“From Forest Town, Mansfield. Cyril Walker was my late wife’s older brother and our granddaughter is currently doing a school project on WW1/WW2. We have some of Cyril’s service medals and know that after the war he served in Palestine and later in Tripoli where he died. He was a Lance Sergeant and a member of his regiment’s speedway team and died while undergoing an operation to remove his appendix on 15th November 1950. Although two of his nephews are still around their detailed memories of Cyril are very sketchy as they were quite young at the time of his death. It would be nice to learn more of his wartime service and involvement. Allan Barham.“

I sat staring at the screen in total disbelief, I was taken aback by the discovery and spent the next 10 minutes verifying my information against the details provided on the website. It confirmed without any doubt that I had indeed identified the right individual, who served in the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, stationed in Palestine and Libya, everything aligned perfectly with the information and images found in my father’s photo collection. What made it even more astonishing was the fact that Cyril hailed from Mansfield, a mere 15 miles away from my home.

Nevertheless, I had concerns, there was no date as to when the message had been posted. Allan who had shared the message and was Cyril’s brother-in-law, led me to contemplate the possibility that Allan might no longer be alive, considering my father would have turned 96 by now. So, I assumed that Allan could be around the same age. Despite this uncertainty, I proceeded to send him a message via the Wartime Memories page. However, my concerns persisted, prompting me to check if he had a Facebook account. Surely, this was meant to be Allan did have an account, but there had been no recent activity since 2020. I looked through his Facebook and saw he had a daughter. Consequently, I made the decision to contact her, carefully composing a message to her, explaining my identity, some clear evidence about the information I had on Cyril, and the purpose behind reaching out to her, and I wished to return the photos to the family.

I was pleased to receive a response the next day, furthermore Heather was delighted I had been in touch, she explained that her father was still alive as he was in fact a lot younger than Cyril. We agreed for Allan to ring me and make arrangements to meet. Allan contacted me twenty minutes later. We both expressed complete shock and disbelief that Alan had posted his message over two years ago, and he was delighted I had reached out, Allan explained that Cyril sadly had died during an appendix operation, also Cyril’s two nephews were still alive and were delighted to be able to hear the stories of an uncle they remember with great fondness.

Allan was pleased to have more insight into Cyril’s military career, his friendship with my father, and that they both were in the same army speedway team. Allan and I met the following week, on the 13 September 2022, I drove to Mansfield, I took Dad’s military photo album and I was able to give Allan more photos of Cyril which I discovered later and we spent a great couple of hours stories that would otherwise have been lost to Cyril’s family. These photos are now safe and secure with Cyril’s family. I know Dad would have approved and I am sure Cyril would have too.

Allan and I both agreed it was a great story to share. The second part of this story–through another set of photographs confirms the comradery and friendship between my father and Cyril“Hucky” Walker.

More about the Grenadier Guards here: The Grenadier Guards