Walter Mepham

Somme. Cambrai. Harry Arthur, and Walter. Brothers in arms, as well as life. New with photo-pictures (permissions requested) and added postscript. Walter Mepham: born 14th March 1894 killed 30th November 1917 Cambrai France: The Battle of Cambrai 1917, and the life of Walter and his family. With references to the works and words of Conan Doyle, Bertrand Russell, and Winston Churchill, through the true lives of two brothers and their family in the First World War. Walter's family, from Napoleonic Times in Kent and Sussex, England, to London, and to France and to the Western Front, 1917. Walter and his brother Harry Arthur, along with their father Mark Henry Mepham, fought with 'the other ranks' the 'poor bloody infantry' and only Harry survived to tell this story; and through him, to continue their history to the present day. The first decades of the 21st century; a hundred years since the start of the first world war where Walter and his father were killed; two hundred years since the Napoleonic Wars split Europe in bloodshed; seventy since the end of the second world war, Walter, and his brother Harry's family survive. With his brother Harry Arthur, at the commencement of the new 21st century, the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval, remembrance is made. The title and subtitle of this book are taken from the back of the postcard pictured bearing Walter's image before joining-up in 1916, and at nineteen years old enough to be sent to the Western Front; killed Cambrai 30th November 1917. Born 14th March 1894 killed 30th November 1917, this is Walter, and Harry Arthur's re-imagined by their distant cousin, the author Malcolm Stow. This is not an ordinary story. What Walter did, to be killed for his family, and country, was not remarkable. What Harry, and their mother Caroline Mepham (nee Wells) conspired to do, was treason, treachery, a capital crime throughout the first world war: desertion from post. Refusal. Conscientious Objection, and then to abscond from the field of duty. What both brothers did was for their country was to save their family from extinction. Harry by surviving. Walter By dying. And then, by remaining alive The family story continued... From the Battles of Waterloo 1815 with Walter and Harry's great grandfather to Cambrai, 1917; then through family relationships to 2017 from the new battlegrounds of Europe and the World, recounted with personal credence, with a passion for lasting peace. New with photo-pictures (permissions requested) and added postscript. M.Stow 2016.