Can you help to identify Leicestershire Regiment soldiers who fought in the First World War?

A campaign to identify Leicestershire Regiment soldiers who fought in the First World War is being backed by South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa.

Alberto is getting behind Andy Garford as he strives to solve countless individual military mysteries through his ‘ww1leicestertigers.com’ website.

Andy is launching a vital mission to put a name to the thousands of postcard images of local servicemen sent to loved ones and friends during the Great War, fought from 1914-1918.

He’s urging people to send in images of any relatives they had in the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

Andy is also imploring them to visit his website to see if they can identify any pictures of veterans sadly still listed as “unknown”.

The names of soldiers are then updated on a central database and shared with the Regiment’s official museum and other Leicestershire war memorial sites as well as the soldiers’ families.

“I am delighted to be supporting Andy’s excellent work in trying to identify the images of those brave men who fought so valiantly in the First World War,” said Alberto.

“I am immensely proud that the Leicestershire Regiment was stationed at the Glen Parva barracks in South Leicestershire.

“And, of course, the tremendous bravery and valour of all those in the Royal Leicestershire should not be forgotten - hence why Andy’s work to identify these soldiers is so incredibly important.”

Andy said: “As there are many thousands of postcard images around, I would like to try and get as many identified as possible and also for the public to send images of family members of the Leicestershire Regiment.

“The website has been up and running for around a year now.

“There are still families who have images of their distant relatives but as time goes by these become lost and more identities are lost for ever. “It’s very important for future generations to remember these brave men and what better way than to put a face to a name.”

Alberto added: “I would really encourage all residents of the county and elsewhere to please get in touch with Andy to send in their images of any relatives who served in the Royal Leicestershire Regiment and to also visit the site to see if they can spot a family member among the images yet to be identified.

“I know Andy has had a huge amount of success in reuniting family members with the images and stories of their serving relatives.

“And having a comprehensive, pictorial record of all those fought so valiantly on our behalf is crucially important in remembering their excellent service.”

You can find out more about Andy’s remarkable one-man investigation to put a name to every proud soldier’s face on his website here: https://www.ww1leicestertigers.com/