Samuel Brooks woke up on September 10, 1914, ready to make a decision that would turn his world upside down, and ultimately lead to his death five years later.
Europe had erupted into war three months before Samuel took his momentous decision to join the thousands of men from Swansea who enlisted in the army to fight on the Western Front.
Born in Kilvey in 1885, Samuel worked at Swansea docks until joining the Royal Navy in 1903, according to information supplied by Save our Memorial Monument (SOMM).
When he joined the army at the start of World War One he left his wife, Ellen, and their three young daughters behind.
On his return two years later, Samuel wouldn’t be the same man who left his young family in 1914.
After almost a year on the Western Front, Samuel was badly wounded at the Battle of Aubers Ridge on May 9, 1915.
Estimates vary, but as many as 200,000 soldiers of all nationalities were killed during the offensive.
Samuel was discharged from the army in 1916 because of his wounds and later died, after years of painful treatment, at Swansea Hospital in 1919.
He wasn’t given a military burial at the time or even recognised as a casualty of war.
It would be another 100 years, and thanks to the tireless work of a dedicated history enthusiast, before Samuel was given a military gravestone at Danygraig Cemetery in Swansea.
Steven John, from Carmarthenshire but now living in Shropshire, runs the West Wales War Memorial Project.
He spends his spare time, and money, ensuring that military casualties recorded on Welsh war memorials are given the recognition they deserve.
It was Steven’s research that meant Samuel Brooks was finally given a military headstone by the Commonwealth Graves Commission.
“I first became interested in the army when my dad used to tell me about my uncle, who was in the commandos.
“I noticed that five to ten per cent of the names I was seeing on war memorials weren’t recognised as official military casualties by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
“In Samuel’s case, it was only because the doctor who treated him at the time said his war injuries contributed to his death that he was given the recognition.
“If it wasn’t for that, his case wouldn’t have been accepted by the commission,” he said.
Steven, who has written three books about Welsh men and women in the first world war, uses ancestry sites to trace their stories and then pays for death certificates, hoping that the cause of death is recorded properly.
Sadly, despite hours of work and trawling archives, no photograph of Samuel Brooks survives.
A group of people from Kilvey, Samuel’s birthplace, are currently raising funds to save a memorial to those from the area who died in the First World War.
SOMM wants to remove the memorial at All Saints Church, Kilvey, before it is re-developed into a private home.
The group is also unveiling a memorial bench to the men of Kilvey in August with the help of Heritage Lottery funding.
