Soldier's family find his grave after 85 years

THE grave of a North East soldier who was killed during World War Two has been identified in France.

- NICOLE GOODWIN

Signalman (Sig) Edmund Roberts was 28 when he was wounded and died in hospital on June 13, 1940.

The former postman, from Newcastle, was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force on September 10, 1939. He was wounded during the German advance while serving with 50 Telephone Unit.

Sig Roberts was initially treated at 13th General Hospital. But as that facility was evacuated, he was transferred to 9th General Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds, leaving behind his wife Gladys Evelyn Dawson and their three-year-old son, Brian Edmund.

For more than 85 years Sig Roberts' family were never fully aware of how he died or the location of his resting place. But on Tuesday (June 24) he was one of four British servicemen killed in France in 1940 to be rededicated, finally bringing closure to families. Private William Falconer, Gunner Joseph Humphries and Major Richard White-Cooper were also rededicated.

The men were among the many British servicemen remaining in France after Operation Dynamo, which saw the mass evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force through Dunkirk. As the Germans advanced across France, fighting continued and further evacuations were made from ports along the northern and western French coasts.