Poppies have been tied on gateposts across Conwy to commemorate the servicemen who lived at the properties before they died during the First and Second World Wars.

Beneath each of the 170 poppies is a card with brief details of the serviceman who died - some with a photograph of the man.

One particular house on Penman Road in Conwy displays three poppies.

Three brothers who lived at the address died in little more than a year apart during the Second World War.

They were the sons of Robert and Elizabeth Jones.

Robert Owen Jones, died on May 15, in 1944, in Poland, Charles Conway Jones, also died in 1944, aged 19, during the allied invasion of Italy and Glyn Jones died in March 1945 at a firing range in Ireland in an accident.

Rhodri Clark is behind the Poppies on Doors scheme.

“A group of us in Conwy researched the history of the men through the archives, book of remembrances and the names on the war memorials, we were also helped by the Home Front Museum in Llandudno and the Penmaenmawr Historical Society,” he said.

“The poppies do make a poignant sight and shows how many of these men were just ordinary people that had to go off and fight in the front line.”

The poppies tied to the gatepost of a cottage in Cadnant Park remember brothers Herbert and Richard Taylor who died during the Second World War
The poppies tied to the gatepost of a cottage in Cadnant Park remember brothers Herbert and Richard Taylor who died during the Second World War

Another Conwy man to fall on the battlefield was Alfred Blench of Marl Crescent, Llandudno Junction, who left his wife and teaching job to enlist in the First World War.

His bravery earned him the Military Cross in 1916. He died fighting in France.

Many lives were lost away from the fighting to disease and other medical conditions.

Thomas Nevitt of Stanley Oak Terrace, Llandudno Junction from pneumonia two days after the war ended.

His brother Albert was more fortunate, surviving several close shaves - at the front and in the practice trenches at Kinmel Camp - and receiving the Military Cross and Albert Medal.

Older residents may remember him as headmaster of Deganwy Primary School.

Frankie Williams lived at 9 Marl View Terrace. He was killed at Passchendaele a hundred years ago, just three days shy of his 20th birthday.

His comrade and fellow Deganwy soldier, David Davies, wrote to Pryce and Mary Williams, Frankie’s parents, telling them that “The hardest thing of all was to see his parcels that had come for his birthday.”

He went on to say that the “very nice things that had been sent were divided among four of us – his chums.”

Frankie was killed on September 26 1917 by a shell from a small calibre field gun.

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Sergeant Richard Thomas Davis was born in Conwy in 1911 to Richard and Mary Davis and lived in Penmaen Road. He made his name as golfer. He was a member of the Conwy (Caernarfonshire) Golf Club, winning many tournaments. Although underage, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers aged 14 years.

He served in Gibraltar and Hong Kong in the 1930s. He boxed for his battalion in the lightweight division.

After 10 years’ Army service, he returned to North Wales and became a London, Midland & Scottish Railway locomotive fireman.

He remained an army reservist and when war looked inevitable in the summer of 1939, he was called up.

For the early part of the war his battalion, the 4th, was stationed in Northern Ireland helping to keep an uneasy peace.

By 1942 the regiment was training for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe which began on June 6 1944.

The battalion arrived in France three weeks after the D-Day Landings and was soon in action, at the Battle of Evrecy on July 16 1944.

On August 14 1944, Sgt Davis led a patrol to determine whether the Germans were occupying the village of Acqueville, forward of the Royal Welsh’s position, but encountered an enemy machine gun post. He was killed aged 33 years.

Three Sons Of Wales Buried In A Foreign Land

On Penyffordd Terrace in Penrhynside two poppies have been placed to commemorate neighbours Private Robert Williams and Private John Jones.

Both served with the 14th battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and both died within three weeks of each other at the Somme in 1916.

John Mark Jones was born in Conwy, the son of carpenter, Thomas Jones and his wife Ann of 2, Penyffordd Terrace.

He too enlisted in the Royal Welsh at Llandudno disembarking in France in December 1915.

On March 18 1916 the battalion came under heavy shelling from the German lines and John Jones was killed aged 33.

They were buried together at Le Touret Military Cemetery and the service officiated by the Reverend Hugh Jones.

Before volunteering for military service Reverend Jones was the Chaplain of the Baptist Chapel in Penrhynside – the same chapel Private John Mark Jones and his family attended.

Later Reverend Jones told the local newspaper “It was a sad and difficult duty for me to bury three dear sons of Wales in a foreign land.”

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