Harold Rimes was born in Farcet in 1891, he had 4 brothers and 1 sister.

When the war began Harold was employed by the Great Northern Railway as a porter. Fortunately, his service record survives so his story can be told.

Harold signed up in November 1915, after which he was placed into the army reserve. He was mobilised in November 1916 at the age of 23 and joined the 5th Battalion Middlesex Regt.

In February 1917 he was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, which was an extremely dangerous branch of the army, known with black humour as the Suicide Club (the machine gunner is always the first target). This highly specialised Corps was disliked by officers in the regular regiments because it often stole the best soldiers.

Harold joined No. 255 Machine Gun Company and embarked at Southampton for France, arriving on the the 14th of November 1917, where his Company joined the 47th Brigade which fought as part of the 16th Division.

In early 1918 Harold’s unit faced the surprise German counterattack known as the Ludendorff Offensive. This was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during the First World War, beginning on the 21st of March.

The German high command had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the United States could fully deploy its resources. During these battles, the Germans initially overran Allied positions, and Harold was captured. His service record states he became a prisoner of war on the 23rd of March.

The Allied victory in November 1918 secured his release and Harold was sent home on the 18th of December much to the joy of his family according to local newspaper reports.

Although he survived the fighting in the German offensive, capture and subsequent imprisonment, sadly Harold did not have long to enjoy his new found freedom. No doubt weakened by 8 months of captivity he succumbed to the Spanish Flu only 8 days later, on Boxing Day 1918, aged 27.