Name
Walter Pepper (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/06/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
P/13932
Corps Military Police Mounted
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAGNEUX BRITISH CEMETERY, GEZAINCOURT
III. C. 16.
France
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial
Town Hall Memorial, Hitchin
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Standon War Memorial
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Standon
Pre War
Walter was born in Standon in 1885 and baptised at St Mary’s Church, the son of Mr George and Mrs Ellen Pepper of Standon, Ware, Herts. and married to Bertha M Pepper their home was at 39, Periwinkle Lane, Hitchin. His parents were Mr and Mrs G. Pepper He was born in Standon, was resident in Hitchin and had been a police constable in Hitchin for five years, having come from the Watford Division, before joining the army. He had served for three years as a regular soldier and had been for seven and a half years on the reserve.
Wartime Service
He was mobilised in Stratford on the 5th August 1914 and went to France on the 5th September 1914 with the East Surrey Regiment and held the Regimental Number 8220. On the 6th May 1917 he was struck on the hand by a piece of shrapnel and this was the second time that he had been wounded. He transferred to the Corps of Military Police Mounted Branch with the Number P/ 13932 in November 1917. He served at Arras and on the Somme where he was wounded yet again. He was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in the field at Passchendaele Ridge whilst acting as a Company stretcher bearer. He was killed by a bomb behind the lines at Doullens in France. He is buried in Gezaincourt which is a village at the south west end of Doullens and was the site of various Casualty Clearing Stations. His grave is in Plot 3, Row C, Grave 16 in the Bagneux British Cemetery.
Additional Information
See additional information link A private inscription on the headstone reads "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God".
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
