Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Coalville Times article - Friday April 12th, 1918

LOCAL CASUALTIES

Private Walter Reginald Ketcher, of the 10th East Yorks Regiment, has been wounded in action and is now in hospital at Woolwich. He is the son of Mr and Mrs Alfred Ketcher, of 31, Oxford Street, Coalville.

Coalville Times article - Friday May 10th, 1918

LOCAL CASUALTIES

The names of Ptes. E. H. Palmer, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, W. R. Ketcher, of the East Yorks Regiment, all of Coalville, appear in the official lists as having been killed in action.

Coalville Times article - Friday August 30th, 1918

Local Casualties

News has been received that Pte. A. J. Ketcher, of the Loyal North Lancashire has been wounded in the right hand having lost two fingers. He is in hospital in Glossop, and his brother, Walter, is in hospital in France, having undergone an operation. They are the sons of Mr and Mrs Ketcher, 31, Oxford Street, Coalville, who have lost one son in the war. They all worked at Messrs. Stableford’s previously.

Coalville Times article - Friday February 23rd, 1968

MANY A LAUGH FOR 'DEAD' MAN

Sixty-nine year old Mr Walter Reginald Ketcher is a remarkable man. Remarkable, because according to Coalville Urban District Council he has been dead for the past 50 years. He smiled as he stood in the garden of his Oxford Street home on Monday and recalled his 50 lost years.

"I've had many a laugh about it," he commented. "I'm not bothered about it any more."

The trouble started towards the end of World War I when Mr Ketcher was seriously injured during the allied offensive at Vimy Ridge, France. He was so badly injured that he was unable to write letters home for a time. "Everyone thought I had been killed," he commented. Eventually Mr Ketcher recovered and returned to Coalville in 1919.

A few years later he was walking through Coalville. As he passed the newly erected £2,500 War Memorial he paused to see if any of his old friends had been killed. And then it happened. Staring coldly back at him was a familiar name. It was his own.

Whitwick born Mr Ketcher was serving with the East Yorkshire Regiment at the time of his "death." "It was at the time of the big push at Vimy Ridge," he recalled. "The fighting was really hard. I was seriously injured and reported missing. "But it came as a shock when I got back and found I had been remembered on the War Memorial. I got in touch with the Council and assured them I was safe, but it must have been over-looked."

Mr Ketcher now lives with a friend, Mr Leonard Clarke, at 8, Oxford Street, Coalville. When told of the situation, a spokesman for Coalville UDC commented, "No! Is that a fact. There must have been some misunderstanding."

Coalville UDC year book bears the legend, "On Saturday, the 31st October, 1925, the unveiling took place of the Coalville War Memorial erected in Memorial Square, Coalville, by public conscription in memory of the 354 men who lost their lives in the Great War."

Just for the record, only 353 men lost their lives. The 354th had quite a celebration with his friends on Monday night.

Research undertaken and submitted by Andy Murby 10/2/2018