TWO new names have been added to Awre War Memorial's roll of honour.

Edward Nicholas was gassed on the Somme in World War One in 1915 and died just after the war from his injuries.

George Alfred Sargent has a particularly poignant history. He came to Awre as a two year old with his mother and sister.

His mother married Bill Watkins, a well known farm labourer, but George went off the rails. After a number of run-ins with the law he was convicted of arson and was given the choice between prison or transportation to the colonies.

His mother, says local man Mark Awre, never forgot the moment she signed the transportation papers and he was shipped to Australia aged 15.

Although he never saw his mother or sister again, he kept in touch. When war broke out he signed up to the Australian Army in 1939 and was killed in Tobruk.

The memorial ceremony was attended by members of the Nicholas family, the Watkins family (Blakeney) and the Remnants. George's sister married into the Remnant family.