Sjt. Walter NEWTON – 11th Manchester Regiment (1890-1973)
In the early 2000s, a British War Medal appeared for sale online, long separated from the man who had earned it by the passage of time. It is engraved 59226 SJT . W. NEWTON . MANCH . R .—a name, a number, a regiment. Walter Newton was born in Oldham in 1890, enlisted in 1915, and served on the Western Front through some of the most dangerous months of the war. He came home, worked in the cotton mills, and ran a post office with his wife Ethel. He died in 1973, aged 83. This is his story.