Harborough’s ‘Forgotten Soldier’ To Finally Be Honoured
Written by HFM News on 31st August 2018
A hero teenage soldier who was missed off Market Harborough’s World War Two Memorial is to finally be honoured – 78 years after he died in action.
Private Ballard William Coleman was just 19 when he was fatally shot as the Leicestershire Regiment were trying to stem advancing German troops in Norway on April 25th 1940.
His name wasn’t added to the memorial, at the entrance to the Memorial Gardens, because when it was erected his grandparents, who he lived with in Gardner Street, had died and his sister was seriously ill in hospital, so authorities weren’t told of his death.
The omission has now been corrected and a ceremony will take place at tomorrow by the gates to mark the fact.
Private Coleman’s nephew Trevor Vendy, from Maidwell, first asked the Royal British Legion if his name could be added, who in-turn liaised with Harborough Council to make it happen.
His name will also be included on a cross in the Memorial Gardens during the Remembrance period this year.
Private Ballard William Coleman when he attended a wedding, before going to War
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