CHRISTMAS offered a respite from the fighting for Keighley soldier Harry England and his Field Ambulance comrades.

They were looking forward to a night of jollity as they made their way to a Boxing Day Smoking Concert in the closing days of 1944.

The enemy, however, were in no mood for good cheer and sent an aircraft to disrupt the festivities.

Harry was struck by bomb fragments when the German plane attacked the base behind the lines in Belgium.

He received immediate medical attention was put in an ambulance within a few minutes, but died before reaching the hospital.

Harry’s death was a cruel twist of fate for his wife-of-three-years Mavis, toddler son Gerald and their extended family.

For Mavis’s father Harry Wright had survived his own service during the First World War despite signing up under-age and fighting at the bloody Battle of the Somme.

He was serving in the Home Guard in Keighley, while his son-in-law was serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Allied advance through Europe following D-Day.

Harry Wright’s story is told in this week’s Men of Worth column, elsewhere on this page.

Harry was born in 1915 while his future father-in-law was fighting on the Western Front.

He enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940, soon showing his prowess on the sports field, winning several medals, including one for the three-mile race.

Mavis received a letter from Harry’s”s commanding officer, Lt Col WP Purvis, on January 4, 1945, informing her of her husband’s death.

He wrote: “Harry England was a first-class man in every way, and one of the most promising non-commissioned officers. He will be sadly missed.”

Harry and Mavis lived in Florist Street, Stockbridge, and Harry was promoted from private to lance corporal during his four years in the army.

In late December 1944 the borderlands between Belgium and Germany became the focus for the Battle of the Bulge, where German forces made a last-ditch attempt to counter-attack the advancing Allies.

The smoking concert that Harry was due to attend on the night of his death was a throwback to Victorian times, when the men-only music performances were popular.

Men would smoke and speak of politics while listening to new forms of live music.