Walter Attack was the son of William Atack and Harriet Hoyle who married towards the end of 1880 in the Leeds Registration district. William was a collier and the couple began their married life in Manston, near Crossgates, William presumably working at either Manston or Manston Lodge Colliery.

They were still living in Manston when their first child, a daughter, was born in the spring of 1882, but moved to Kippax, where a son was born around the end of 1896. When second son, Oscar, was born in December 1889 the family was living at Peckfield. 

Around 1888 the family moved to 14 Crescent, Micklefield, which was to remain the family home until both William and Harriet died, and William began working at the nearby Peckfield Colliery. A third son, Walter, was born on 10 August 1892 but sadly died that summer. Harriet was soon expecting another child and on 19 June 1893 a fourth son, also named Walter, was born into the family. Walter was baptised on 1 November at St. Mary’s church, Kippax.

In April 1896 there was an explosion in the Peckfield colliery which resulted in the deaths of 63 men and boys as well as 19 pit ponies. William was amongst the last group of men to be rescued. The incident was widely reported in newspapers across the country and was one of the worst pit disasters in West Yorkshire’s history.

When the next census was taken in 1901 there were five children at home including Walter’s younger brother Samuel, and in 1911 all four surviving sons were still at home, daughter Alice having married. William had worked his way up to a responsible position and was working as pit deputy, whilst 17 year old Walter and his two older brothers were also working at the colliery on the ‘pit bank in screen.’ This was surface work, involving passing the coal over screens and removing debris before it was tipped into wagons. 

Though Walter’s service records have not survived, we know that he enlisted in Selby, probably around the beginning of 1917. He joined the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment with service number 48743. Walter served as a rifleman in 1st/7th Battalion, part of the Territorial Force, also known as the Leeds Rifles.

Unfortunately, the battalion war diary did not record when drafts of men arrived to join the unit, so although we know that Walter was serving with the battalion by April 1918, he had likely already been in the field for several months by that time.

The men were relieved from the front line on 9 March and moved into billets at Lankhof Camp. The next day the camp was shelled and the men were moved to Chippewa Camp by light railway, then at very short notice to Parret Camp to form a defensive line.

A war diary report on the next few days action noted that

‘From that evening until the morning of the 16th the battalion held the Right Subsector of the Brigade from Bogaert Farm to Pickwood: On the night of the 15th/16th they handed over from Bogaert Farm to Scott Farm to the 1st Lincolnshire Regt. and took over Spanbroekmolen inclusive. On an extended front they encounter (sic) the full force of the enemy attack on the morning of the 16th and fought most gallantly until overwhelmed by superior numbers. As in the case of other battalions the mist placed them at an enormous disadvantage, and deprived them of the full use of their fire power.’ 

It was at some point on this day that 24 year old Walter was captured near Kemmel. His prisoner of war records state that he was not wounded. Walter spent the next four months in a prison camp. His 25th birthday must have been a most miserable experience.

At some point he developed what was diagnosed as Intestinal Gastric Catarrh - something we might now know as gastroenteritis or gastritis. This was apparently a common diagnosis in prisoner of war camps, and often thought to be a result of starvation, abuse, and poor rations.

Walter was buried, along with six other prisoners in Marle Communal Cemetery, German Extension.

After the war, when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission undertook the proper remembrance of the service people who died as a result of the war, it was not possible to find the graves of the seven men.

Walter is now remembered on the Kipling Memorial at Grand-Seraucourt British Cemetery. The inscription on the memorial, which refers to the men reads: “To the memory of these seven British Soldiers who died as Prisoners of War in 1918, and were buried at the time in Marle Communal Cemetery, German Extension, but whose graves are now lost,”  “Their Glory shall not be blotted out.” The seven men all died between 22 & 26 August and the were allocated sequentially numbered plots, and are named on headstones. Of the 1,378 bodies buried in the cemetery only 496 bodies have been identified.

For his service to his country Walter earned the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His accused pay and War Gratuity Payment of £7 were paid to his father.

Walter’s mother had died just six weeks before her son. His father lived only until September 1920. 

Walter’s older brother, Oscar, served in the Royal Field Artillery in WW1, earning the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.