Frank Stanley Layard

Pat Armstrong’s aide-de-camp, Second Lieutenant Frank Stanley Layard took part in an attack at Monchy-les-Preux on 19 May 1917. He was hit in the lower leg but, as the wound was not serious, the battalion moved on and left Layard behind to bandage his leg. When he failed to return to the British lines that evening, several parties were sent out to look for him. Pat Armstrong spent the last three nights of his life looking for Layard in the no man’s land, but found no trace of him.

When Layard was reported wounded and missing, his mother, convinced that Layard was a prisoner-of-war, spent several weeks writing to the Red Cross, the War Office, and numerous German prison camps. After six months, Layard was officially declared dead, although his body still had not been found. His mother refused to accept the verdict and continued to live in hope that her son may have been taken prisoner. Her hopes were dashed during the battlefield clearance in 1920, when Layard’s body was discovered and identified not far from where he had last been seen alive. He was buried in Dury Crucifix Cemetery.

Frank Stanley Layard

Frank Stanley Layard