'I'm happy my town is paying tribute to the dad I never met'

Roger Webster's father died while serving in Singapore

Roger Webster never met his father, but now he gets to see his face most days when he leaves the house.

The 83-year-old's mother was pregnant with him when his father, Hedley William Benjamin Webster, died serving in Singapore during World War Two.

Now the aircraftsman's portrait is one of 67 decorating the streets of Stapleford in Nottinghamshire, to honour fallen heroes from the town.

As he first looked up at his father's photograph attached to a lamp-post at the end of his street, Roger's heart skipped a beat.

He said his father had worked at a hosiery factory in Stapleford before volunteering as a Royal Air Force reserve.

"He was shipped off to the far east. At that point in time, my mother was pregnant with me and he was en-route to Singapore by ship," Roger said.

He said his father had been sent to defend a strategic naval base, which was a lynchpin of the British Empire in the east.

From there, his father sent his wife - Roger's mother - telegrams, with the last one arriving the day before Japan invaded Singapore in 1942.

Roger said: "In the message, it said 'all is well, keep smiling', just those words, nothing else."

Hedley William Benjamin Webster - Roger's father - is one of 67 fallen heroes commemorated

Singapore subsequently fell in what Prime Minister Winston Churchill described as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history".

After his father died, Roger was raised in his grandparents' home by his mother.

He said: "I never saw my mother cry, but I think [if she saw the banner] there would be some tears."

Roger said he had regularly visited a war memorial in Singapore where his father's name was inscribed.

Lorraine Longford, a councillor on Stapleford Town Council, has worked alongside Stapleford History Group over two years to bring stories - like Roger's father - to life.

The banners, which were first erected on 18 October, are the culmination of that work and proudly display the photographs of the heroes whose names are inscribed on the town's war memorial.

Of the 81 names on the memorial, Longford tracked down 67 families and their photos.

Samuel Arthur Patrick survived the war but did not make it home after contracting malaria

Another portrait on display is that of Pte Samuel Arthur Patrick, who served in the Hampshire Regiment during WW2 and died in India aged 23.

The youngest of five, Samuel survived the war but then died of malaria shortly after, just before Christmas.

He was buried in the Kirkee war cemetery in India.

His nieces, Jean Thompson, 71, and Lynda Tennant, 62, both live in Stapleford and are "proud" to see his picture.

Sisters Jean (left) and Lynda's uncle is one of the men featured in the display

Jean said: "They are our heroes, they belong to this place. They lived here, they were born here and they fought for a country they loved.

"I think it just brings them alive and it brings them back to us really, and their memory lives on."

Her sister Lynda laughs when she recalls how hard it was to find a photograph of him without a cigarette in his mouth.

She said: "So the cigarette has been removed from that picture, which is quite funny to know because me mum smoked a lot as well, back in them days, so I think she'd have found that quite funny that they removed the cigarette."

Pte John Edward Bardill is another soldier to have been commemorated

Each banner has a corresponding plaque, which the town council hopes to put on the houses where each soldier used to live.

Pte John Edward Bardill was one of seven siblings who lived in Crawford Avenue in the town, before he joined the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment of the Sherwood Foresters.

Despite sometimes being the "scary" big brother, it was his younger sibling Ernest who pushed to ensure his brother's name was on the town's war memorial.

Ernest died four years ago but his children Carolyn Bardill, 64, and Jeff Bardill 70, said their father would be "so proud" to see his brother's portrait on display.

Carolyn said: "My dad did a lot of digging, and he was instrumental in getting his brother's name on to the memorial in Stapleford."

Carolyn and Jeff's uncle, Pte Bardill, died serving in Egypt at 23 years old

The display was funded by the town council and Broxtowe Borough Council, with Nottinghamshire County Council councillors arranging the installation of the banners.

Longford said: "Everyone is overwhelmed with joy, we were putting them up and everyone was peeping their horns and waving."

Councillor John McGrath, from Broxtowe Borough Council, added: "I think it's been absolutely brilliant, I think it brings the community together. This would make these soldiers, who gave up their lives, proud."

Longford said there were still 14 men she had been unable to find any information on