Young Lily Wildman in Luton was anticipating the happiest day of her life. Her wedding dress had been made, the cake procured, and wedding presents had arrived. All was ready for the next time her soldier fiance would be granted leave from active service in France.
But leave after leave was cancelled and happiness was to turn to heartbreak. During an attack on German trenches near Arras on April 9th, 1917, 22-year-old Cpl Ralph Marshall (pictured) was wounded.
Days later the Sister in charge of the No 16 General Hospital in France wrote to Ralph's father and mother, John and Elizabeth, at 44 Cambridge Street, Luton: "I am very sorry to tell you that your son is in this hospital very ill with heart trouble, and also badly wounded in the right arm. We are doing all we can for him, but his condition is most serious."
Lily was living with Ralph's parents. She learned that Ralph in hospital was continually asking for her and was begging to be allowed to see her. Lily determined that, no matter what horrors lay ahead, she would see Ralph for probably one last time.
Permits were granted for Lily and prospective father-in-law John to travel to France. They crossed the Channel to Boulogne safely, to be met by a YMCA motor car which took them straight to the hospital.
She still feared she might not get there in time. The roads were a mass of shell holes, and she was shaken from one side of the car to the other. For miles all around was the black trail of war, but finally Lily arrived at the hospital on the evening of April 21st.
For ten hours Lily and Ralph spent their final time together. Ralph died at 11 o'clock the following morning, Sunday, April 22nd, 1917.
Ralph was buried at noon the following day with full military honours, 50 soldiers present at his graveside along with Lily and John. All the time, said Lily, she could hear the distant booming of the guns.
There was a finally twist of fate in the story. When he was wounded, Ralph had in his coat pocket a wallet given to him by Lily. The bullet went right through the wallet and then out into his arm. So by a miraculous coincidence, Ralph was not killed outright and his life was spared for a fortnight for his final meeting with Lily.
[The Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: April 28th, 1917]