Research in Belgium into the liberation of the little village of Ledegem in the final days of World War 1 has uncovered a fascinating story of a dying German soldier and a then unknown British soldier who eventually turned out to be from Luton.

On October 14th, 1918, the British soldier took the dying man's pocket book and other possessions in the hope of returning them to his family. Unfortunately, although the German soldier's name was known to be Rutz, there was no address to which to return the items.

The British soldier must not have given up hope of returning the possessions as it was 13 years later before he found the clue to the Rutz family. In December 1931 it came to his attention that a Miss Anny Rutz had played the Virgin Mary in the 1930 Passion Play at Oberammergau and he wrote to her in the hope that she was related to the dying soldier.

That letter did indeed lead to the tracing of the family and it identified the unknown British soldier as Charles Edward Foster and his address by then of 47 Stockingstone Road, Luton. The researcher in Belgium has since been able to trace the descendants of the German soldier, together with letters, pictures and the pocket book associated with him. He would now like to trace descendants of Charles Foster in the hope of completing the story.

Charles Edward Foster is mentioned in section 3 of the Absent Voters List available on this site. That identified him as being Pte 40395 Foster, of the South Wales Borderers, whose home in 1918 was at 355 Hitchin Road, Luton.

Our additional research, now passed on to Belgium, has shown that Charles Foster, the son of Herbert and Mary Jane Foster, was born in the summer of 1897. In 1923 he married Elsie M. Moule and had a daughter, Betty, in 1924. The family moved to 47 Stockingstone Road, Luton, where Charles and Elsie were included on electoral rolls up to and including 1966.