THIS moving story from the First World war comes courtesy of Fiona Taylor who has been researching the life of Wilfrid Da Cunna Brookes of the Tank Corps.

Wilfrid is buried in Weymouth Cemetery and Fiona stumbled across his fallen and broken headstone as she was on a walk through Weymouth Cemetery.

Wilfrid was born in Sale in Cheshire in 1891. He was the fourth child of a well-off family where his father Arthur was the manager in a shipping merchant’s office.

He attended grammar schools at Sale and Manchester before studying at the Manchester School of Technology. He then worked as an assistant manager of a cotton warehouse.

When war broke out Wilfrid joined the Westinghouse Company as Inspector of Munitions in their artillery shell fuse department.

It was not until April 30 1916 that Wilfrid was able to enlist into the Machine Gun Corps. His training was at the newly established Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps at Elveden which was secretly designing the first tanks.

It was not long before it was decided by the powers that be that the tanks, known as Mark 1, were to support a Canadian offensive at Flers-Courcelette on the Somme in France.

The movement of tanks from Elveden to France began on August 13 1916 under the cover of darkness. Twelve divisions were employed. Wilfred was part of D company and he was drafted to France as a Corporal on September 28 1916.

He reached Yvrench on September 6 where D company had to wait further orders. The attack was planned for September 15.

At 6 am on September 15, the first shots were fired on the enemy. As men went over the top the tanks roared into action. But 7 of the tanks failed to work. Thus only 22 rolled slowly into No Man’s Land.

Crammed inside in the pitch black was a crew of 8 men. There was an intense combination of extreme heat, noise and suffocating exhaust fumes from the engine. The crews had practised over lovely smooth parkland in England but where now lumbering over uneven conditions making some men sick.

Through all this Brookes tank lurched forward (his tank number was D6 747 ).

It followed the main road to Flers until it reached German Switch Trench, where it passed Sgt Carmichael, of 21 KRRC, who was taking part on the assault.

The tank then turned east and north again to move down eastern side of the village Gueudecourt. D6 747 supported the infantry as they fought their way to their third objective (the Bull’s Rd at the northeast of the village) and went beyond the enemy lines where the crew put several enemy gun emplacements out of action.

But then the tank suffered a direct hit from a high explosive shell. Lt Legge ordered that all his crew abandoned the tank. Wilfred managed to run, dodging bullets and shells. passing through both enemy and British barrages, where he found safety with some New Zealanders who were seeking shelter in a shell hole.

The remainder of the crew were not so fortunate. Gnr Bardsley, Gnr Cook and Gnr Garner were all killed.

Gnr Clears was captured by the Germans where he remained as a POW for the remainder of the war. A/Sgt Thacker managed to make his own way back to the British line but was suffering severe shock.

Lt Legge, badly injured, managed to reach a shell hole where he tried to take shelter but was captured by the Germans and died of his wounds on September 16 1916.

Wilfrid then courageously volunteered to join another tank crew and went back into action on October 1 1916 at Eaucourt L’Abbaye.

His tank was put out of action when the gearing became entangled with barbed wire. Leaving the tank, he attempted to cut the wire whilst under fire from the enemy.

After being given the order to abandon by his officer, Cpt George Bown, Wilfrid set fire to the tank, but whilst escaping, he was wounded in the right forearm by a grenade sustaining a compound fracture.

He was awarded the Military Medal for his distinguished service.

Wilfrid was evacuated to the Bangour War Hospital, near Edinburgh, where he stayed for more than a year. Although he recovered from his wounds, he was not fit to return to active duty, so was put in charge of the workshops of the hospital’s X-ray Department.

Having been promoted Corporal, he was sent to the Tank Corps Depot at Worget Camp, Wareham. There he contracted meningitis and died shortly afterwards at the Weymouth Isolation Hospital on February 2 1918.

*Thanks to Fiona for all her diligent research that brought us this sobering tale of a war hero who lies right here in Weymouth.