His grave lies lovingly tended, but how the young British Tommy ended up there is a mystery.
Now an amateur historian is appealing for information on a Tyneside soldier who died in action during World War Two.
Private John James Edwards was 20 in 1940, when he died in France fighting with the British forces.
His body was buried in a war cemetery in Cherbourg, but few other details of his life are known.
Now, inspired by his father’s involvement in the war, Roderick Barron is trying to trace any relatives of the Private for a book about the expedition he was part of.
Private Edwards was born in the Gateshead area in 1919 or 1920, the son of Hannah Edwards and stepson of Thomas Faulkner of Heworth, who married in 1928.
At the time of his death he was serving with the 5th Battalion, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, with the service number of 3192288.
Mr Barron, 49, said: “I have a long-held interest in history and I visited the war graves in Cherbourg with my father, who served with the KOSB, but in a different battalion to Private Edwards.
“Inspired by this I started to research his battalion, who were deployed to France after the D-Day landing in June 1944.
“They were deployed as the covering rearguard during the hasty evacuation via the port of Cherbourg of remaining British forces still in Northern France and Normandy on June 17 and 18, 1940.
“In the course of the Battalion’s own withdrawal to Cherbourg on June 18, 1940, two platoons of the Battalion’s A Company were caught up in heavy fighting against advancing German forces, suffering several casualties, including Private Edwards and with many dozen men also taken prisoner.”
Mr Barron, from Kent, said he suspects that at the time of Private Edwards’ death he would be a fresh recruit to the army, probably with only three or four months’ training behind him.
His research has found that there were several new recruits who joined the 5th Battalion KOSB from Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North East in the first few months of 1940, areas well outside the Battalion’s traditional recruitment grounds in Dumfries and Galloway.
Mr Barron said: “I have tracked down some of the surviving veterans from the expedition and spoken to them about it.
“For many people the war is something they never want to speak of so it has been difficult and of course there are very few men still alive.
“I’ve also spoken to some families of those who died but Private Edwards remains a mystery. I haven’t been able to find out any more than basic details about him. It was would be nice to find some surviving relatives in the North East.
“My plan is to write a book about what was a little-known chapter of World War Two.”
Anyone who thinks they can help Mr Barron with his research can email him on barronrm@hotmail.com
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