FOR decades the names of two Oxfordshire soldiers who fought for their country in the First World War had been lost in the “fog of war”.

But after tireless research by volunteers, the names of the pair, who died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Rifle Wood on April 1, 1918, are to be added to a memorial alongside the names of fallen comrades.

A plaque bearing the names of Private Walter Jacques and Lieutenant John Higgs and 20 other men of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars – also known as the Oxfordshire Yeomanry – who were killed has been made for the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust, which is building a military museum for the county in Woodstock.

The trust’s project manager, Major Hugh Babington Smith, said: “These soldiers were lost in the fog of war. People just disappeared.

“It’s important to remember these soldiers who fought and died for our country.

“Practically every village in Oxfordshire lost people and they should not be forgotten.”

The plaque will be unveiled on the memorial at Rifle Wood, south-east of the French town of Amiens, at a ceremony on Sunday, May 23.

Colonel Paul Wenlock, chairman of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry Regimental Association, said: “Researchers have worked hard to ensure the plaque is now accurate.

“It replaces an original dedicated in 2004, at last correcting several errors and omissions.”

Harry Staff, the Yeomanry Trust historian, said the two soldiers were probably excluded from the records as they died later as a result of their wounds.

Peter Maasz, 74, an archivist for the Oxfordshire Yeomanry Trust, said his uncle Clarence, who lived in Abbey Road, West Oxford, was killed in the attack on Rifle Wood when he was 25.

Mr Maasz said: “It all started as I wanted to find out about my uncle. I’m delighted that we have been able to identify these two men and we’re satisfied that we have them all now.”

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