WYRE, Albert

Albert Wyre lived at 151 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and had been a boot repairer at Stead and Simpson before the war. He volunteered, probably in 1915, and joined the Worcesters. After recovery from wounds he was transferred to the 7th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment in the 18th Division. At the start of 1918 they were defending the Houthulst Forest north of Ypres in trenches which were at their worst in mid-winter and after the pounding of Third Ypres. He was killed on the 8th January 1918 in the course of a strong German attack on the British trenches. He was in charge of a Lewis gun and his actions helped keep the line intact. A letter from his CO said that 'he was a man who we trusted and who did not fail us when the great occasion rose'. He was 28 years of age and is buried at Artillery Wood Cemetery (9 B 1) His name is not on the Stourbridge Memorial or any other memorial in the locality.