Pte Walter George Smith, 40356, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 8th, 1917. He was aged 21.

In a letter of sympathy to parents George and Harriet Smith at 49 Hampton Road, Luton, Second Lieut W. A. Fletcher wrote: "Your son, Pte W. G. Smith, was killed yesterday evening, June 8th,. He was on a working party up in the front line and was hit on the back by a piece of shrapnel. It pierced his heart, and the doctor told me that death must have been instantaneous."

Born in Maulden, Beds, in 1896 and moving to Luton with his family while a small boy, Walter Smith joined the forces in March 1916 and had been in France 11 months. In October 1916 he had been wounded in the head and left ankle and was treated in hospital in France.

Previously he had for several years been employed by hairdresser Mr Burnet, of Castle Street, Luton. He was a member of the Union Chapel choir and his fiancee Miss Kate Titmuss was a Sunday school teacher at the chapel.