A Wath Brow soldier who "came back from the dead" Private Joseph Davidson

A local hero from the Cleator Moor district whose wartime story is little known.
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One Cleator Moor soldier reported 'Killed in Action' during the First World War is not listed on the town's 'Roll of Honour' of the dead, nor is his name found on any of the local war memorials. Having enlisted with the Border Regiment, Private Joseph Davidson from Wath Brow was reported as having been 'Killed in Action' on 13 August 1916.

A couple of weeks later the news about what had happened to him was changed. As Joseph Davidson's family and friends had already been given the worst possible news, the official information that he was actually a prisoner of war of the Germans would have been good news.

Although Joseph Davidson's true fate was reported in the 'Whitehaven News', unfortunately it does not tell us the reactions of his family and friends. For Joseph Davidson, facing up to being a P.O.W. in the German prison camps was not going to be an easy time but it was better than having been killed in action. His wartime story is little known in his home district.