A RECENTLY discovered gravestone of a fallen Second World War soldier has kickstarted a Holly Hall church’s appeal for information about him so his name can be added to its war memorial.

Two months ago, members of St Augustine’s Church found a gravestone in its churchyard giving details of Private Archibald Joseph Moore, who was killed in action on June 5, 1942. He was just 22.

Private Moore lived in Malvern Crescent, Holly Hall, with his parents Archibald Joseph and Phyllis Hannah before he joined the 2nd Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment.

The gravestone in the churchyard is only a memorial tablet to the soldier, who is buried in a war cemetery in Libya and is the actual grave of his sister, Irene Dorothy Moore, who drowned in the sea at Bude in Cornwall in 1938 when she was just 29.

According to a report at the time in the Dudley Herald, the predecessor to the News, Miss Moore, who was employed as a midwife, was bathing with friends in low water when a large wave breaker covered her and carried her out to sea.

The tragic tales of Archie and Irene probably mean the Moore family died out with them, as noone has recorded his name for inscription on a proposed plaque which is planned for the church’s war memorial.

The cenotaph in the church ground honours the fallen soldiers from the Holly Hall and Woodside area who lost their lives in the Second World War.

And so that Private Moore can be rightly remembered, the church is appealing for information about the Moore family and to see if there are any living relatives.

But even if there is no longer any surviving family, the church is determined to add his name to the memorial and is hoping the community will help to raise the £1,600 alteration and inscription fee so Archie and his family can rightly be remembered.

Any information or donations can be sent to Margaret Howse, the treasurer of the Holly Hall War Memorial Fund, by calling 01384 869034.