Walter Henry Balls

A Private with 2nd Bn., Walter died on 5th of September 1918 at the age of 20.

Walter was born at Pakefield on 9 March 1898, a son of Richard Henry and Laura Balls. In 1901 his family lived at 2 Homestead Row, Pakefield, and later at Bourne Terrace. Walter's mother died in 1903 and in 1907 his father married Lily Knights. In 1911 his family lived at 76 Saint George's Road, Lowestoft. 

Walter attended Cunningham Infant School from 15 April 1901 until 8 February 1907, when he became a pupil at Morton Road School.  

Walter enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Suffolk Regiment and was posted to the 2nd Battalion in France and served with 16 Platoon.

We do not know exactly when Walter was wounded, but, based on the 2nd Battalion War Diary, it seems likely that it was between 23 and 30 August 1918 when the Battalion was in the Gomicourt area. He was wounded by a gunshot to his stomach and taken by the Germans to Field Hospital 114, at Bouchain, north-east of Cambrai, where he died of his wounds. He was buried, by the Germans, at Bouchain Communal Cemetery German Extension. In 1923 he was exhumed at reburied at Cabaret-Rouge.