A towering gravestone in Pembroke Dock’s town cemetery stands today in silent testimony to just one family’s sacrifice in World War I, writes John Evans.

It is estimated that some 800 Pembrokeshire men died in the Great War, with others later succumbing to wounds, the effects of poison gas or illnesses contracted during the conflict.

Two of those who made the supreme sacrifice were brothers David Aubrey Williams and Thomas Howard Williams, sons of William and Marianne Williams, 33, Laws Street. Both parents were teachers and Aubrey followed in their footsteps, becoming a teacher in Cardiff.

Aubrey was commissioned from the Royal Engineers into the 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, as a Second Lieutenant and went to France in January 1916. On July 25th - three weeks into the infamous Battle of the Somme campaign - Aubrey was killed.

He was 29 and has no known grave. Aubrey’s name can today be found on the Thiepval Memorial, along with 72,000 others who likewise have no known resting place.

Howard also moved to Cardiff, working for a bank, and joined up in late 1915 as a Private in the 28th Battalion, The London Artists’ Rifles. He remained in reserve in the UK before going to France in September 1917 and was soon in the front line.

Between October 28th and 30th the Battalion suffered 324 casualties - one of whom was Howard Williams. Like his brother his last resting place is unknown and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. He was 34.

Tragedy had already struck the Williams family earlier in 1916. On June 18th - just five weeks before Aubrey was killed - their mother, Marianne, died aged 65. Father William lived on until the age of 86. He died in December 1933, the family headstone listing him as ‘late Headmaster Coronation School 1871-1912’.

Aubrey and Howard Williams are both listed on the war memorial plaque in St Andrews Church, Bush Street, along with four other church members who were killed in the Great War. The church is now privately owned.