WHEN Bill Herbert was a boy he was often told about the soldier who would have been his uncle if he had survived the First World War.

Sgt Walter Herbert of the 1/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry died in the Battle of Arras in France a hundred years ago.

His nephew, 70, said he wanted to ensure that Sgt Herbert, who died aged 26 on April 19, 1917, was never forgotten.

This month he paid for a series of advertisements in the Oxford Mail's family announcements section, paying tribute to Sgt Herbert, who came from Windmill Road, Headington.

The tribute said: "Killed in action at the Battle of Arras, France, April 19, 1917, defending Europe from German domination. Never forget."

Mr Herbert said: "I think it's very important that Sgt Herbert is never forgotten - the soldiers in the First World War and in the Second World War were fighting to make sure we kept our freedom.

"The war cost Sgt Herbert his life and there has never been a more fitting time to remember him."

After Sgt Herbert died in the Battle of Arras his body was never found.

He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial in France to the Missing of the Somme.

It pays tribute to 72,246 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the bloody battle and wider conflict, including Arras, between 1915 and 1918 who have no known grave.

Sgt Herbert's name is also recorded on the stone plaque in the porch of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry.

In 1916, Sgt Herbert married Lucy Agnes Whitchelo of Caversham, near Reading but they did not have any children.

Father-of-four and former plasterer Mr Herbert added: "Walter George Herbert would have been my uncle - I was born in 1947 and I have known his story all my life.

"He was only 26 when he died and his body was not found - it's possible he was wounded when he was out on night patrol."

Steve Berridge, an archivist at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock has been transcribing the war diary and regimental chronicle of the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

A former corporal in the Royal Green Jackets, Mr Berridge’s interest in the history of the regiment started when he began researching the life story of his great-grandfather Corporal George Berridge, who served in the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion during the First World War.

Mr Berridge's latest research has been focusing on the Battle of Arras in which British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras from April to May, 1917.

He said: "It's great to hear Sgt Herbert is still being remembered and I'm sure that will continue long beyond the centenary years of the First World War."