Maccabee family visit on November 2nd ©FNRC Maccabee family visit on November 2nd

Thomas Maccabee remembered

Family gather by new Commonwealth War Grave

A letter in the Newbury Weekly News was the first a Newbury family knew about an Uncle who died from dreadful wounds in World War 1. On November 2^nd, when Newtown Road Cemetery was open for the pre-remembrance event the family gathered by the grave of Thomas Maccabee. Betty Blisset could remember her parents talking about an uncle who had lost both his legs in the war but for the others this was the first they had heard of their relatives’ heroism. Five Maccabee brothers went off to war together. Thomas’s brother Reginald did not return home. He was also wounded in the Battle of Cambrai but died a few days later and is buried in France. The family plan to make a similar pilgrimage to his grave.

William and Kate Draper, younger members of the family, had both served in the army, joining straight from school. They had served in the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan continuing the family tradition.