2nd Lieutenant Harry Brookes

17th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers

Harry was the second son of Thomas Henry (a commercial traveller) and Elizabeth Brooks. The 1911 census records Harry, aged 19 and working as a junior clerk, living with his parents in Marsland Road, Sale, later of Park Road, Bolton. 

Harry was employed at Mr Phetbean and Co. of George Street, Manchester.  He was a member of both Sale and Brooklands Football Clubs.

He enlisted in the Manchester Regiment in November 1914 and reached the rank of Lance Corporal.  His regiment landed in France on 10 November 1915.  Harry was commissioned on 25 September 1917 and transferred to the 17th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. He was wounded on 28 March 1918 and died 15 days later on 12 April 1918, aged 27.

He is buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France and commemorated on our War Memorial at St. John’s.

Harry Brookes is buried in Wimereux Cemetery close to the Canadian poet John McCrae, author of the poem "In Flanders Fields".  The poem, written by physician McCrae in 1915 after the Second Battle of Ypres, refers to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers; it resulted in the poppy becoming the worldwide symbol of remembrance for those who have died in conflict.

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