ROPER, George Frederick

George Roper came from Cradley Heath and enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was transferred to the Inniskillings and served in the 1st Battalion. They fought in the 1916 Battle of the Somme, at Arras and Passchendaele in 1917 and had to face the German Spring offensives in March 1918. Then followed the Advance to Victory from August 1918. Once the Hindenburg Line had been broken the Inniskillings advanced quickly until they approached Courtrai when German resistance stiffened. Casualties were taken and one of these was Private George Roper who was killed in action on the 15th October. It was less than a month to the Armistice. He is buried in Harlebeke New British Cemetery (V B 7), near Courtrai, and commemorated on the Cradley and Halesowen Memorials.