NEWS that Private Joseph Hirons had been killed in the First World War proved to be wrong.

The Army apparently mixed him up with another soldier who had died in action.

Private Hirons was just 17 and two months old when he joined the 6th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1914.

It was earlier thought that the Hirons family from Bicester lost four sons in the war – Arthur, Francis, Joseph and Maurice, with only one son, William, surviving.

However, the latest research shows that although he received bullet wounds to his head, hand and buttocks and lost an eye and a finger, Joseph returned home safely.

His mother Keziah Parker, of North Street, Bicester, was told of his ‘death’ in a letter from Second Lieutenant DO Burn, of the 13th Platoon.

He wrote: “It is my sad duty to break to you the news of your son’s death. The Germans made a bomb attack on our trench and your son was one of the party of bombers sent up as reinforcements.

“After several hours of severe fighting, the enemy were driven back. It was during this that he was hit in the head by a bullet, I believe. He was unconscious and so suffered no pain.

“He died in hospital this morning, two days after he was hit.

“Your son was one of the first to join my platoon and has been with me all along. He was always cheerful and willing to do any extra or disagreeable job and was a real good soldier.

“His loss is a great blow to both myself and the platoon, especially the other Bicester boys, Bottrell, Grace and Geden.

“Please accept my deepest sympathy and condolence and remember in your grief that your son, Private Joe Hirons, died doing his duty to you and his country.”

In a separate letter, the regimental chaplain wrote: “I know how little mere human sympathy can do to lighten such sorrow as yours, but I pray that God, who comforts them that mourn and heals the broken in heart, may give His own comfort and strength in your time of need.

“Your son has died in a noble cause and you can at least remember with thankful pride that he did his duty so well and was ‘faithful unto death’.”

The discovery that Joseph had survived the war was made by Memory Lane reader Albert Parker, of Woodfield Road, Bicester, who has been researching the Hirons’ family war history.

Earlier, it was thought that Joseph had returned to Britain to recover from his injuries and then gone back to war, only to be killed in Flanders in 1917, aged 20.

Mr Parker tells me: “Joseph was my father’s step-brother. When he joined the Army in August 1914, he was one of the youngest Bicester soldiers. After being injured, he returned to Bicester and was later discharged from the Army.

“I believe he married, had four sons and lived in Witney.”