LANCE SERJEANT STANLEY HENRY WAYLAND
LONDON REGIMENT ROYAL FUSILIERS
29TH MARCH 1918 AGE 26
BURIED: DAMASCUS COMMONWEALTH WAR CEMETERY, SYRIA
Lance Serjeant Wayland's inscription, chosen by his wife, Lilian, comes from 'Smilin' Through' a popular song written by Arthur A Penn, which was first published and recorded in 1919.
There's a little brown road windin' over the hill
To a little white cot by the sea;
There's a little green gate
At whose trellis I wait,
While two eyes o' blue
Come smilin' through
At me!
There's a gray lock or two in the brown of the hair,
There's some silver in mine too, I see;
But in all the long years
When the cloud brought their tears,
Those two eyes o' blue
Kept smilin' through
At me!
And if ever I'm left in this word all alone,
I shall wait for my call patiently;
For if heaven be kind,
I shall wake there to find
Those two eyes o' blue
Still smilin' through
At me!
Wayland joined the army as a territorial soldier in April 1912 when he was 19 and four months. In February 1916, a clerk in a solicitor's office, married and with two children, he transferred to a service battalion. He was sent to Salonika with the 2nd/23rd London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), part of the 60th London Division, in December 1916, and went with them to Egypt in June 1917. In the first three months of 1918, the allies attempted to extend their hold over the lower Jordan valley. Wayland was wounded in the attack on Amman and died the same day.
[You can hear Richard Tauber sing 'Smilin Through' here.]