PRIVATE WALTER RAYMOND HOMAN 10/968. Born in Hull, 1896, the fourth of five children (and only son), to John and Elizabeth Homan of 16 Aigburth Avenue, St. George’s Road, Hull. and 5 Tyne Street, Hessle Road, Hull (Army Address). Walter was a Clerk before the war, but queued in the ‘long uneven lines’ on 7th September 1914, to join the then fledgling battalion. He fought in Egypt and on the Somme, and was part of the infamous attack on Oppy Wood on 3rd May 1917. Walter was killed in action during the trench raid overnight on the 22nd June 1917 and his body was never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was 19 years old. I cannot begin to imagine the terror of attacking in darkness; of not knowing which shadow was the enemy and what which your best friend. The ‘kill or be killed’ mentality would be the only way to come out of it alive, and even then you would be relying on not falling victim to the sporadic randomness of machine gun fire. You’ve fought, you’ve chased; and by rifle, bayonet and grenade you’ve harried and killed your enemy lit only by flares which serve to both illuminate the scene and make you a target at once. When the withdrawal was sounded you would run, desperate for the safety of your own trench. There would certainly be no thought of stopping for the body of a teenage Clerk from Hull who just happened to stop a bullet to your left….you probably wouldn’t even notice.
