DESCENDANTS of men from the Bere Peninsula killed in the First World War are being asked to come forward.

Maria Hill, from Bere Alston, is attempting to track down descendants of 41 men who died in the Great War from Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers as she aims to make this year’s Armistice Day ‘extra special’.

Charity Remembered has launched an inaugural campaign called ‘There But Not There’, which aims to commemorate the fallen, educate the generations and heal those suffering from combat.

Remembered has created limited-edition table-top Tommy figurines, based on the charity’s logo, to represent every single name from the 888,246 British and Commonwealth fallen of the First World War.

And Maria plans — with the help of donations — to purchase 41 of these ‘Tommys’ and have them each engraved with the name of the men from the parish who died in the devastating war from 1914-1918.

‘On Armistice Day they will all be on display for the people to see and the children of the parish will be making this year’s service a little more personal and special — plus it is the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War One,’ said Maria, who has been researching her husband Vince’s family tree.

‘I started family research three years ago and found that on my husband’s side his great grandfather served at the Battle of The Somme — and as we are coming up to the 100 year anniversary of the end of the war I wanted to do something in my local parish.

‘I would like direct descendants to get involved either through sponsorship or making the service on Armistice Day.

‘I wanted to do something for the parish for these poor men that went through hell. They left thinking they would have a better like but instead they died awfully.’

To help Maria, you can contact her on 01752 781241 or 07922 892461.

• The names of the 41 men are: W Beaton, B R Bennett, F B Blackmore, L S Blackmore, J W Brewer, G H Brighton, W A Collom, T N Coombes, W C Craddick, W J Davis, T J Foote, H Grills, E H Greenway, J H Gliddon, W Hamilton, T Hooper, W E H Homeyard, R W Homeyard, J Jordan, W H Jackman, R W Jackson, C Kerswill, F W Lavis, W J Littlejohns, A Lethybridge, W McAlister, R J N Nicholls, F Rockey, R W Rooney, A Satterly, H Stone, F Sherrell, E Skewes, W J Tremlett, H T Trevethan, W J Williams, W White, G I Willey, A D Wooldridge, A H Wooldridge, J Pethybridge and GL Richardson.