NEXT month the town will honour 450 Malvern men and women who lost their lives to bring the Great War to an end.

It is not possible to know just how many local men and women enlisted and put their lives at risk, but it must run into many thousands.

West Malvern in 1915 reported that 108 men had joined the forces and there were not enough left to form the village football team.

Large numbers were invalided home during the war and countless others returned during 1919.

Only one woman is known to have been killed. She was Nursing Sister Gladys Wake who served with the Canadian Medical Corps. Her family lived just beyond Cowleigh and when on leave, she would worship at St Matthias' Church.

In May 1918, the hospital in France where she was caring for wounded soldiers was hit by 116 bombs from a German raiding party.

Gladys was killed, along with another two nurses and 66 patients. The Canadian government named a mountain in British Columbia Mount Wake after her.

Another nursing sister with Malvern connections was Rhoda Fyson. She too tended the wounded in French hospitals and her safe return after the Armistice was reported locally.

Telegrams announcing deaths of loved ones or Missing in Action were delivered to most streets in the town and surrounding villages.

One of Malvern's older soldiers, John Tandy, was 38 when he was killed in 1918 at Ypres. He was a Guarlford man and served with the Essex Regiment. He left two young sons and a widow in Barnards Green.

Henry Tandy, who was not related, survived the war. Before the war he worked for Mr Russell the butcher in Malvern Link. His name was quite well known to readers of the Malvern Gazette thanks to the regular letters he sent home.

Pte Tandy was always positive about his experiences and in August 1915 he described in some detail an overhead aerial attack: "You could not imagine a more nerve-thrilling sight than a German and an English aviator having a hot duel.

"The German leads our aeroplane over his anti-aircraft guns and a little puff of white smoke, like fleecy clouds, is seen. Then our aviator gets over his. Out spurts our Maxims and the German cannot reply because he cannot fire in front, as his propeller is in motion. He gradually sinks over our lines. Then down he comes, his observer as well, and maps, photographs, machine gun and aeroplane are a prize for the lucky English aviator."

Malvern lost several of its sons in naval battles. The youngest casualty was 16-year-old Mornington Giles. He was Boy Seaman First Class and served on the ill-fated HMS Queen Mary when it received a direct hit in the Battle of Jutland 1916. The battle cruiser exploded and split in half and 1,226 crewmen were killed.

Ernest Crouch, also of Malvern, was killed in the same tragedy. A letter that appeared a fortnight later came from another Malvern sailor who also took part in the battle. C W Johnstone of Sunny Lodge, Malvern Link, described the engagement to his family in thrilling terms: "When we first started off I felt rather funny, thinking to myself are we going to be torpedoed, or blown off the face of the sea, or what.

"But when the action became really interesting we forgot everything, and the whole show was taken as a huge joke; nobody thought of anything but hurling shells into the Germans. I was in my clothes, without ever washing, for 52 hours and two nights running I had roughly a total of five hours sleep."

Malvern men also played their part in the skies, with several tragically losing their lives while training in Britain. Lt Alfred Speer grew up in Malvern and lived at the Priory, now MHDC offices.

"He served with the Royal Flying Corps and carried out bombing raids in France. In July 1916 his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Bapaume. The crewmen's bodies were recovered and buried nearby. Alfred Speer was 22.

"Acting-Major Egbert Cadbury, of the well known Cadbury family who had a home near British Camp, was serving with the newly-designated Royal Air Force in 1918 when he brought down his second Zeppelin. Bertie, as he was known, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this act of bravery.

Given space, so much more could be related about the courage of men who served as stretcher bearers, transport and ambulance drivers, signallers and cavalrymen.

It is interesting to note just how many Malvern men served with regiments from other parts of the empire. In fact at least 26 young men, who had emigrated before the war looking for new opportunities, lost their lives fighting in Canadian, Australian, South African, Indian and New Zealand regiments.

It is also heart-breaking to learn that Malvern's Roll of Honour records 27 sets of brothers and three sets of fathers and sons killed during the war.

One mother received a telegram confirming the death of her only son in September 1918. 2nd Lt Percy Holt died from wounds on an ambulance train in France.

Mrs Holt's letter beseeching the War Office for more information has survived and the anguish she expresses in it must echo the sentiments of hundreds of other mothers and wives.

She wrote, "Can any of you picture or realise how we mothers are being torn to shreds by these messages you send us? Oh to God that my dear child had died in infancy - the country has torn my dear and only boy from me."

Percy Holt was 22 and had worked as a draper's assistant at Kendall's in Church Street before the war. Subsequent correspondence from the War Office gave more details including an inventory of Percy's effects that would be sent to his mother in Cradley.

Malvern's Roll of Honour can be viewed in Malvern Museum, along with a folder containing brief details of all the men listed.

There are also many more Great War stories contained in the three booklets published by the museum. These are available at the museum and at Just So in Barnards Green.