Walter George Gooch

A Private with the 7th Battalion, Walter died on 23rd of November 1917 at the age of 20. 

Walter was born at Lowestoft in 1897, a son of Walter William and Charlotte Evelina Gooch. He was baptised at Saint Margaret's Church on 16 May 1897 and at that time his family lived at 51 Clemence Street, Lowestoft. His first names were Walter George Vincent. In 1901 his family loved at 8 Factory Street, Lowestoft, and by 1911 they had moved to 149 Saint Margaret's Road. The 1911 Census shows that Walter worked as an assistant at a boot and shoe merchants. 

Walter enlisted at Lowestoft and he joined the Suffolk Regiment. Initially he had the service number 1432 and he served with a cyclist battalion. He was posted to the 4th Battalion and then served with the 7th Battalion in France, with service number 43267. 

The 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment was part of 35th Brigade, 12th Division. On 20 November they were involved in a tank attack at Cambrai and subsequently attacked and captured Hindenburg support line trenches. The battalion War Diary does not give any indication of what happened to Walter. Soldiers Died in the Great War records his date of death as 23 November 1917, as does Commonwealth War Graves, but other sources, such as Pension Record Cards, state that he was killed in action on 24 November, for which date the War Diary states 'casualties very slight'.

Walter has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial.