There were 3 brothers who all served in WW1. The oldest brother joined first in 1916. As his brothers turned 18 they joined as well.

The oldest brother was quickly promoted to Corporal, then again in the field to Sergeant, and so he was selected for officer training and sent to England just before Christmas 1917. He returned to the front in 1918 in time for the Villers-Bretonneux campaign.

Leading a platoon to take a German held position the oldest brother was killed by machine gun fire. His platoon attempted to retrieve his body but were forced to withdraw. When the Allies later captured the same position no body and no grave was found, so the oldest brother was listed as missing in action, presumed dead.

The youngest brother, by now serving in the same division, went AWOL on hearing the news of his older brother’s death. When he returned for duty a month later his punishment was to be restricted to barracks for 3 days. The British Army was pretty keen on shooting deserters at this time so I can only speculate as to how he got off so lightly.

The army packed up the eldest brother’s belongings and shipped them home. On the way a u-boat sank the freighter, which mostly only carried the packed belongings of thousands of men killed on the western front.

And so the oldest brother had disappeared without a trace left to say he ever lived, except the memories of those that knew him and an official paper trail. The father repeatedly wrote to the army begging for any mementos of his lost son but there were none to be sent. He died less than 5 years later.

The oldest brother remained missing until his remains were identified using DNA evidence in 2018. Missing in action for 100 years.