A SERIES of books has been published, relatingthe stories of all the Dawlish men and women who fell in the First World War.
They were celebrated in 96 services of commemoration, which were held on the centenary of each individual death.
The services extended beyond the Armistice on November 11, 1918, to include those dying of their wounds in following years.
A printed record of their lives has now been edited by Robert Vickery from the material first drafted for the Dawlish WWI website.
Three books, covering the years 1914-15, 1916-17 and 1918-21, are printed to order from the Amazon.com website.
They include the stories of the women and men of Dawlish who volunteered to work as nurses or porters, or joined the Red Cross VAD to make clothing or bandages in the Dawlish workshop.
Belgian refugees arrived in Dawlish after the devastation of their country by the invading German army and were found homes in Dawlish. Some were born in the town and others died here.
The eventual dedication of the town War Memorial in 1921 was a sombre event following years of debate over a suitable form of memorial.
The books are held in the town library, at Devon Heritage Centre and by the Devon Family History Society which has given a review in its journal concluding: ‘The three volumes really do live up to the sub-title of the whole project – How the War was brought home to a small Devon town.’