TROS RYDDID A'I WLAD

PRIVATE WILLIAM ROBERTS

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

2ND OCTOBER 1916 AGE 49

BURIED: BLIGHTY VALLEY CEMETERY, AUTHUILLE WOOD, FRANCE


William Robert's Welsh inscription translates as 'For freedom and country'. Blighty Valley was a sheltered location, just behind the Somme front line, where the dead could be buried and the wounded await transportation by light railway back to the Casualty Clearing Stations, Base Hospitals, or 'Blighty'. William Roberts was serving with the RAMC, and had seen service in the South African War too. There is no record of whether he was a medical orderly or a stretcher bearer.