Walter Lane

Story:
Walter Lane was born in Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire, on 17 Jul 1894 the son of James Lane and Emily Eliza Lane (nee Smart).  By 1901 the family had moved to 31 Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury, Dorset.   Walter had enlisted on 19 Feb 1912 with the Territorial Reserves (Service No. 1552).  He was mobilized with the regular forces on 30 Apr 1913 and served with the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment as a Private (Service No. 9539).  He was posted to France and Flanders at the outbreak of hostilities and was reported wounded and missing on 13 Oct 1914.  It was later learned he had become a POW and had been sent to Germany.  The family records indicate that he was ultimately put to work in a salt mine.  Following the armistice he rejoined his unit on 27 Nov 1918.  He was finally discharged on 4 Mar 1919 being no longer physically fit for military service and was awarded a pension due gun shot wounds sustained in 1914 to the right leg, thigh, chest and hand.  He also received the Silver War Badge No. B160851.  He was also awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1914 Star.  He married Rose Anna Burden at St. James Church, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 29 Sep 1920.   The 1921 Census shows him living at 3 Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury, working as a Farm Labourer at Parham Farm, Melbury Abbas.   By the time of the 1939 Register he was living at Cann Common, Shaftesbury, Dorset, working as a Cowman and General Farmworker.  He died locally in 1967.