'A wrong has been righted' - Watch as nephew of missing WW1 soldier reacts as uncle eventually takes rightful place on memorial
Colin John Clark, the great-great nephew of WW1 hero Charles Rathbone, speaks about his uncle's century long omission from South Hylton War Memorial and what it means to see his name finally listed alongside his fallen comrades.
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00:00Okay, Charlie and Will Rathbun are both your great great uncles, now I know you're aware
00:18that Will's name was on the war memorial, but were you actually aware that Charlie's
00:23wasn't?
00:24I was, I noticed his name wasn't there, but I never thought any more about it, I just
00:31assumed his name would have been recorded somewhere else, so it never crossed my mind
00:38that it was a mistake.
00:41And do you know a little bit about how both the brothers actually lost their lives in
00:45the conflict?
00:46Yes, they both died, one was listed as missing initially, but they both died on the first
00:53day of the Battle of the Somme, that was the 1st of July 1916.
00:58So basically it was reading the article that you first discovered that there was an issue
01:03and that Charlie's name had been returned to the war memorial, is that how you discovered
01:06it?
01:07That's right, yes, I was looking online, I think probably at football, and I noticed,
01:12flicking through I noticed this article about the war memorial, and I recognised the name,
01:20and I read into it and I realised it was one of my relatives.
01:26Have you any idea why Charlie's name was missing in the first place?
01:28None at all, I've got no idea at all.
01:32And how does it make you feel now knowing that Charlie's name is on the war memorial
01:35with his brother?
01:36A wrong's been righted, I'm really pleased that he's there, they're both my relatives
01:42and the name should be there, they should be remembered, it's very important.
01:47And how important do we do remember the sacrifices made by people like Charlie and Will?
01:51It's very important to remember what these people did for us, they sacrificed themselves
01:58so that we could live the way we do now, things would be a lot worse I would believe, if they
02:06hadn't done what they did, very brave men.