alfred was a lone score in the cheshire regiment, thejoint at the lone score in the cheshire regiment served together initially in training in the uk and we re initially in training in the uk and were posted to different italians, my grandfather went to mesopotamia and india surviving the war and the great uncle alfred was with the 13th battalion and came out here and served and eventually died on the 10th of august 1917 in the battle for westbrook which formed part of the battle of passchendaele. tell us why you are here because there was a ballot for relatives who wanted to come. that's right. it was my wife that applied for the tickets to come. we did not think we would be lucky enough and we did not know what the number of people would be that responded to that, we were thinking in the millions and were very fortu nate thinking in the millions and were very fortunate to get two tickets to come along and some of kate's friends from work also applied about here as well. i know you have read a lot about the battle of passchendaele where your great uncle died, give us an idea of what

it is quite unsure of exactly, but the cheshire regiment lost 95% of their manning over that period ofbattle, those that we re that started the battle, those that were left were 3081 believe and just in context that great loss of life is huge. why did you feel it was important for you to be here today 100 years on? i think from a family point of view it was very important to be here. we had planned to be here before we knew the service. we had been planning it for about nine yea rs. we had been planning it for about nine years. we had was planned and then luckily we both got the ballot and i was asked to be part of calling the names. anne owen, talk about your fatherjack because the letter he wrote to his wife, like so many soldiers who were either died or are injured or went missing, they wrote to their loved ones before going into battle, what did jack write to his wife lizzie? he told her all about life as it was at the time. he apparently got into some offensive with nine people and only three came out. i might have the figures wrong, something like that. he was going into battle a

, sergeant william rhodes, cheshire regiment, awarded the distinguished conduct medal.ss than five miles from here, thousands of men, drawn from across britain, france and the commonwealth, attacked german lines. the battle we know today as passchendaele would last for over 100 days. we remember it's not only for the rain that fell, the mud that weighed down the living and swallowed the dead, but also for the courage and bravery of the men who fought here. the advance was slow, and every inch was hard—fought. the land we stand upon was taken two months into the battle by the third australian division. it would change hands twice again before the end of the war. in 1922, my great—grandfather, king george polona hercog, came here as part of a pilgrimage to honour all those who died in the first world war. —— king george v. whilst visiting tyne cot, he stood before the pillbox that this cross of sacrifice has been built upon, a former german stronghold that had dominated the ridge. once taken by the allies, the pillbox became a forward aid opposed to treat the wounded. tho