Pte. C. Ford
FIRST NAMES: Charles
UNIT: 10th Yorkshire Regiment
NUMBER: 26637
STATUS: Killed in Action
DATE OF DEATH: 11th April 1917
CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: The Arras Memorial, France
AGE: 29
Private Ford was the son of Charles and Martha Ford of North Arch, Northallerton. He was born and he enlisted in Northallerton.
He was killed when the 10th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment attacked a complex German line of fortified trenches called the Hindenburg Line near a village called Henin-sur-Cojeul which is South East of the town of Arras. The attack took place at 6.00 am on 11th April 1917 but the men came up against a wide belt of impenetrable barbed wire which had not been destroyed by the preliminary artillery bombardment. They struggled to find a way through the wire but were under heavy fire from the German trenches. Many men, including Charles Ford, were shot down as they tried in vain to force a way through the wire and the battalion was forced to abandon its attack after suffering very heavy casualties.
Private Ford was 29 when he was killed during this attack and sadly his body was never recovered. He is now commemorated on the Arras Memorial which records the names of almost 36,000 Allied soldiers who died in the Battle of Arras in 1917 and who have no known grave.