Wilfred John Ayres

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from Mavis Williams, Researcher.

Wilfred John Ayres was born on the 23 August 1923, the 2nd eldest, twin son of Edgar John & Agnes Georgina Ayres (née Burden). Edgar John Ayres & Agnes Georgina Burden had been married, according to a newspaper cutting from the Western Chronicle, dated the 2nd of December 1921, in St. Mary’s Church, Andover on the 16th of November.

Edgar worked for the London & South Western Railway as a Plate Layer and Agnes had been working as a domestic servant for her uncle, John Harman who was an Innkeeper and also uncle of Edgar's on his mother's side of the family. That is probably how Edgar and Agnes met.

The 1939 Register reveals that Edgar and Agnes would eventually have six children, including two sets of twins. They were living at 4, Station Cottages, Andover. Edgar Ayres was now working as a Permanent Way Ganger and Agnes was doing unpaid domestic duties. The four eldest children, William, twins Wilfred and Percival and Eric, were working as Poultry Farm Assistants. The other two children, twins Herbert and David were at school.

Sadly, I have no information on Wilfred John Ayres, neither his early or teen years, but he was serving in the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment on D-Day. They landed on Gold Beach and were tasked to capture Le Hamel and Asnelles-sur-Mer but they faced stiff resistance from the defenders. The narrowness of the beach and presence of mines added to the difficulty of the job. But they captured the villages of Le Hamel and Asnelles-sur-Mer before moving on to capture the German strong point at Arromanches which included a radar station.

However, casualties were heavy and the British Army Casualty List tells us that he was killed in action on the 6th of June 1944. He was buried at Asnelles-sur-Mer and the and then reburied on the 28th of October 1944 in the Bayeux British War Cemetery where he now lies.

We see that Wilfred John Ayres was from a large close family and it must have been devastating to lose Wilfred on D-Day.  But worse was to come. Wilfred's twin brother, Percival, was wounded during the Battle of Normandy but recovered from his wounds and returned to his battalion. However, on the 28th of March 1945,  he was killed in action and was buried at Anholt, Holland. He was reburied at Mook British Cemetery on the 12th of May 1947 where he now lies. The family had the following inscribed on both headstones: From Our Home Circle God Has Taken One We Loved To A Nobler Rest Above.

British Normandy Memorial - Additional Information

Unfortunately, we do not have a photo of Wilfred Ayres. If you are aware of one, or you are related to Wilfred, we would love to hear from you so we can add to his story.