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Battle honour

From the Evening Press, first published Saturday 21st Nov 1998.

YORK soldier Arthur Eckersley was a hero - but for more than 50 years his family didn't know just how brave he was.

Mr Eckersley died in May 1940, fighting alongside a battalion of soldiers who made a last stand defending a French village against advancing German tanks just before Dunkirk.

But until this year, his family never knew what happened to him.

His wife, Bthiah, died in 1956 knowing only that he was missing and with only a box of medals to remember him by.

Now, after his daughter Ann MacLaughlan contacted the Evening Press, the Army is trying to find a way of giving him a permanent memorial somewhere in York

It was the curiosity of her own daughter Jackie that led to the story coming out. She contacted his regiment, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, earlier this year, and discovered a memorial to his battalion had been unveiled in the village of Saint-Venant in November 1997.

Arthur Eckersley had his name included in the roll of honour of the 97 men who died during May, 1940.

Troops were ordered to capture four canal bridges to stop the German advance but could not hold out against the tanks of the 3rd Panzer Division.

"When I found out I was absolutely gutted and yet very, very proud. I just wanted to scream it out - 'my father's a hero'," said Ann.

"When I was a girl people used to ask my why I didn't have a father and why wasn't he mentioned anywhere."

Mary Rothery, of Salisbury Road, York, a childhood friend of Ann, said: "We're delighted for Ann. Her family was a big part of the Leeman Road community and this will be something for her after all the trauma of growing up during the war without a dad."

The Royal Welch Fusiliers have contacted the Army's 2nd Division headquarters in York and Major David Robertson, based at Imphal Barracks, said the army would be prepared to pay for some kind of memorial.

Meanwhile Ann, who now lives in Fife, Scotland, plans to visit Saint-Venant during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

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