THE Friends of the Wembdon Road Cemetery will be rededicating four recently restored memorials of First World War servicemen.

The event will take place on Friday, September 7 at 11am, this will be held to commemorate a hundred years since the end of the war in 1918.

There are 56 First World War related memorials in the cemetery; 28 are of men buried in the cemetery itself, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

A further 28, of which these four are included, remember Bridgwater men buried on the battlefields where they were killed, whose names were added to their family gravestones.

Chairman of the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery, Miles Peterson, said: "The stories of these four men are as tragic as you would expect.

"Frank Helps 1894-1915 was killed on 23 July 1915, while on outpost duty.

"This was less than a year after he enlisted and was only 21 years old.

"Arthur Oswald Major (1875-1917) fought in the Battle for Jerusalem and while leading his men was first wounded and then killed outright by shellfire. He was 42.

"Pursey Frederick Short (1894-1915) served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and was killed aboard the French steamship, the S.S. Maine, where he was an interpreter.

"Pursey died when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. There was only one survivor from the entire crew.

"Richard Kenneth Shrimpton (1883-1917) was a Bridgwater man who served in the Australian Imperial Force. He was fatally wounded in June 1917 while serving in the trenches, during the Battle of Messines."

The work to repair these memorials was carried out by Fine Memorials of Bridgwater

Representatives of the Town Council, District Council, St Mary’s Church and various other groups will be attending, and members of the public are encouraged to come along to see the work and to mark their respects.