Richard Slyfield
298502 Air Mechanic II.
2nd F.T.S. (Duxford)
Division 65 Extension
Richard Slyfield lived at 32 Whitley Street, Reading. He was the son of Mrs. Althea Slyfield and the late John Slyfield. The 1911 census indicates that Althea is the head of the family and that she has five sons. The oldest is George 22, John aged 18, Robert 15, James 13 and Richard the youngest aged 10. The three older brothers are working at the biscuit factory, as a butcher’s assistant and as a milkman respectively. The younger boys are still in school.
Richard died on the 21st January 1921. A picture and account of his funeral was published on February 5th 1921 in the Standard. Pg. 8 He is buried in the cemetery and has a CWGC headstone, grave number 13742. He was aged 19. The author has found no other details relating to his death.
However, a R. Slyfied (assumed to be brother Robert) , a Signaller of the same address is recorded in “Berkshire and the War” as being awarded a Military Medal for bravery. He was at the time with another Signaller, William Ayres, also from Reading who was later commemorated on the War Memorial plaque of the Alfred Sutton School.
The medal was awarded for “mending a telephone line at great risk”, when in action near Contalmaison 11th -14th July 1916. The London Gazette 1/9/1916 records the citation “for good work and bravery”. The work of a signaller was dangerous and vital. Communications when in the front line were often broken and the signaller had the job of effecting repairs under the most trying of circumstances.
Private 27003 James Slyfield 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regt., the brother of Richard Slyfield, died on the 31st July 1917, the opening day of the Third Battle of Ypres, on a battlefield that had turned to a sea of mud a result of the combined effects of heavy rain and bombardment by shells. James Slyfield has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres Memorial to the Missing, Menin Gate, Panel 53. Like Richard he was 19 years old when he died.