A First World War soldier’s tragic love story has been uncovered after his diary was discovered in a rubbish dump.
Corporal Claude Nuttall’s diary – still bearing a bullet hole and blood staining – was found by a young boy rummaging for toys nearly 50 years after his death.
The Australian infantryman was killed three months before Armistice Day in 1918.
He met and fell in love with Violet Palfreyman, whom he married in March that year, while recovering from gunshot wounds at Wordsley Hospital in Stourbridge, Worcestershire.
They spent just five weeks together before he was sent back to the front line in France.
Cpl Nuttall was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Amiens, just three days after his last diary entry on August 10, 1918.
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In it, he wrote: ‘Heavy bombardment by our guns. Push still in progress. Started letter to Vi. 11 ¼ inch gun captured by 31st Btn and train came back from forward.
‘Packed up ready to move forward again. Prisoners still coming back. Wrote to Violet.’
The diary – which was found in 1965 – has since found its way into the hands of author Colin Reid, who has written a book about Cpl Nuttall.
Colin, 69, spent years tracking down Claude’s family to fill in the gaps and potentially solve the mystery of how the diary was almost lost forever.
He said: ‘The diary was found by a 12-year-old boy as he was rummaging around in this rubbish tip for some toys.
‘His dad read it and explained it belonged to an Australian soldier.
‘He was wounded in the Somme, sent to Stourbridge to recover and married a lady called Violet.
‘The diary ended on August 10, 1918, during the battle of Amiens, an intense battle towards the end of the war.
‘There was a bullet hole and it was blood stained and it didn’t look good for the guy.’
In an entry written on their wedding day, the soldier penned: ‘All excited. Went to Stourbridge met Maurine.
‘Married 12.30pm, all went well. Photos taken 1.15pm. Wedding breakfast 3pm. All having very good time.’
In another entry, he writes about King George V presenting him with the military medal for rescuing fallen comrades in No Man’s Land in 1916.
Military records show Cpl Nuttall enlisted in the Australian Army after his 20th birthday in 1915.
He was initially deployed to Egypt with the 23rd Battalion but heavy losses on the Western Front saw him sent to France.
His diary was uncovered by then 12-year-old Alan Southall in a rubbish tip near his home in 1965 – 47 years after his death.
It had been kept safe by Violet’s son and husband in the years after she died.
Colin, who has now written a book about the diary, added: ‘Right from the very first moment that I held the diary, I had that real sense of connection with it. I was really hooked.
‘I reached out to try and find Violet’s family and then someone came forward and showed me the photographs.
‘I was able to put together most of the story, he’d been killed in action three days after his last entry.
‘He’d been decorated by the King in person for saving comrades in front of German trenches.
‘He was wounded at the end of the Somme.’
Claude was one of around 8,000 Australian soldiers who married English women while deployed in the war.
Colin added: ‘Violet had married again five or six years later, emigrated to New Zealand, came back and died of complications during childbirth.
‘Twinged by my conscience, I decided to write the book. I had to find the diary again and track down Alan and I had to trace Claude’s family.
‘I put adverts out in local papers and slowly but surely I started getting some responses.’
Claude Nuttall is now commemorated on the Somme by the local people of the village every year.
Colin’s book, The Digger’s Diary, will be launched at Stourbridge Library on October 15 at the Dudley History Festival.
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