Frederick Walker Returns Home 38yrs persumed Dead 1953

[ATNOMIS]

Pals

Saw this paper clipping on Chester memories on Facebook. Made me think how many more did return years later?

Frederick Walker enlisted as a Private in the 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (No 12590) during 1914 and was involved at the Battle of Loos in the latter part of 1915. He was severely injured in action and eventually taken prisoner by the Germans and imprisoned in East Prussia. His was an amazing story in that he suffered severe memory loss as a result of his injuries and mistreatment by the Germans. For reasons which are unclear he was not repatriated back to the UK until 1921 and was eventually discharged by the army in 1924. During this time his family had been told by the MOD that he had been killed in action on 15/9/15 and indeed there is an inscription on the Loos Memorial to this effect. They were not to see him again until 1953 when, still suffering from memory loss, they were reunited. After returning in 1953 he again lost contact with the family and never saw them again. The date of his death is not known.

Name: Frederick Walker
Birth Place: Chester
Residence: Bolton
Death Date: 25 Sep 1915
Death Place: France and Flanders
Enlistment Place: Wrexham
Rank: Private
Regiment: The Royal Welsh (Welch) Fusiliers
Battalion: 9th Battalion
Regimental Number: 12590
Type of Casualty: Killed in action

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/736454/WALKER,%20FREDERICK

[BereniceUK]

An amazing story but what a sad ending.

[Roger H]

Dreadfully sad

[Uncle George]

While not wanting to trivialise Mr Walker's experiences, I am reminded of the 1942 film 'Random Harvest'. It is based on the novel by James Hilton, author of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips' and 'Lost Horizon':

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Harvest_(film)