A NEW book to commemorate the men and women of Malton who died in the First World War has been published.
Malton Goes to War is dedicated to the 81 men and one woman who are named on the town’s war memorial.
John Howard, a member of the Rotary Club of Malton and Norton, has put together the book after researching the history of these men and their experiences during the Great War.
He has done this mainly by consulting the war diaries of the battalions they served with, but also using historical records and information supplied by family members.
He said: “This is a record of those who died during the Great War and are commemorated on the Malton War Memorial.
“On the war memorial they are listed in alphabetical order. To improve the narrative, I have recorded them in more or less chronological order by date of death and grouped them into chapters.
“Each chapter has an
introduction providing an overview of the campaign or battle they fought in.
“Where possible the entry in the battalion war diary is reproduced at around the time of the casualties’ date of death.”
Mr Howard said they had fought and died serving all three services, mainly on the Western Front, but also in Gallipoli and with the ‘forgotten army’ in Salonika.
“The youngest killed was just 17 and the oldest 42,” he said.
“Two Malton-born men returned from Australia and died serving with the Australian Imperial Force. The Harrison and Boyes families both had triple tragedies with three brothers killed.”
Malton Goes to War is available from Hoppers in Malton.
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