Families of Bolton's World War One forgotten soldiers asked to share

Four members of Moving Forces Bolton are planning the trip as a way of remembering members of "Bolton’s forgotten army".

They are Dave Carter, a gunner in the Royal Artillery, RAF junior technician Stephen Kenworthy, Paul Burgess, a lance-corporal in the Royal Tank Regiment, and warrant officer Simon Cass of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps.

They are seeking to mimic the 850-mile journey back from Germany that captured Boltonians had to make after the First World War ended.

The route (Image: MFB)

When the war ended, the 928 men stranded in prisoner of war camps near the city of Munster found the gates unlocked and their guards absent.

Now, more than 100 years later, the four Bolton ex-servicemen are set to recreate that epic journey through Western Europe, and they would like to hear from the descendants of those original Tommies who travelled by train, ship, cart, bus and on foot to get home.

They are also asking descendants of Bolton’s forgotten First World War army to post pictures of the men and their memorabilia to a Facebook page set up by the four army veterans at - www.facebook.com/MovingForcesBolton.

READ MORE: Bolton veterans set up walking group to showcase the town

Any offers of support or donations towards the cause are also greatly appreciated.

Private James Carter, Dave's great grandfather who was imprisoned in Munster during the First World War. (Image: MFB)

Dave, who now works as a physician associate at the Unsworth Group Practice in Westhoughton, said: “My great-grandad, James Carter, made the same journey in 1919 along with Paul’s great-grandad and over 920 Bolton men and we’re aiming to recreate that.

“Back then, the German trains were still running on the Hindenburg Line, so we’ll travel by rail up to the Belgian border, but after that it’s a matter of finding the kind of transport my great-grandad and his mates would have had to look for.

“It could be a friendly farmer with a tractor and trailer, or we could be walking.”

They called in to the Hays Travel store in Westhoughton to make enquiries about flights and came out with plane tickets courtesy of assistant manager Hollie Bates.

Hays Travel assistant manager Hollie Bates presents air tickets to Germany to ex-servicemen from Bolton, from left, Stephen Kenworthy, Dave Carter and Paul Burgess. Unable to be present for the picture was Simon Cass. (Image: Hays)

She said: “They came in to ask about one-way flights and it just seemed such a brilliant idea.

“So, we agreed to sponsor them and have booked and paid for one-way flights for them out to Germany to start their journey and we look forward to hearing all about it when they get back.”

The quartet will fly out to Germany on Sunday, June 11 and aim to return to Manchester on June 23 before walking from Manchester to Bolton on Saturday, June 24 for the town’s Armed Forces Day Celebrations.