Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WALTER BLANSHARD 11/602. Born Hull 1894. Son of Ann Blanshard, of 12, Primrose View, Courtney Street, Hull (War Pension address). Resident at 6 Ash Grove, Dalton Street, Hull- the town of his birth- Walter enlisted at City Hall during the second week of September 1914 joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. One of the Originals, he spent 1915 training in barracks at Beverley, Hornsea and Ripon and sailed for Alexandria, Egypt just before Christmas. The Pals were there to defend the Suez Canal from potential attack from the Turks, but they faced more danger from the sun. Their real war began in March 1916 when they set sail from Port Said for Marseilles and the journey north to the trenches of the Western Front. Here Walter fought his way through the Somme and Arras, surviving the bloodbath at Oppy Wood. He was killed in action on 12th April 1918 during the darkest hours of the German Spring Offensive and his body was never recovered. Walter Blanshard is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. His family were still holding out for some hope 9 months later. This from the Hull Daily Mail 21 January 1919
