CHANCE, Wilfred G

Wilfred Chance lived at 31 West Street, Stourbridge, and attended Hill St. Council School. He worked for Messrs Mark and Moody, the printing and publishing firm, and was a member of the New Road United Methodists. He enlisted in February 1917 in the Warwicks and eventually joined the 16th Battalion in the 5th Division. The battalion went to Italy in January 1918 to assist the Italians after their defeat at Caporetto. They were posted to the front line on the Asiago plateau but saw little fighting. They returned in April 1918 to the Western Front where the German Spring offensives were in progress. They were in action again in the Advance to Victory and fought without a break from the 21st August until the end of September when they were involved in the remarkable achievement of breaching the Hindenburg Line. In the next advance, however, Private Wilfred Chance was killed near Cambrai. He was 19 years of age and is buried at Viesley Cemetery, Cambrai (A 5) and commemorated on the Stourbridge, St. Thomas's church, Methodist church and Greenfields school Memorials.