EVERY year Philip Wroughton and his family gather on the roadside near Wantage for a private ceremony.

On the side of the A338 is a stone cross commemorating a remarkable man.

Mr Wroughton’s great uncle, also called Philip Wroughton, survived three years of the First World War.

He achieved the rank of Major, serving at Gallipoli, only to be killed in action in Palestine barely two years later.

Major Wroughton, commander of the D Squadron (Wantage) Berks Yeomanry, was killed fighting at the second battle of Gaza on April 19, 1917, aged 29.

On Sunday his great nephew and his family gathered to remember the 98th anniversary of his death.

Mr Wroughton, a former Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, now retired, said: “He served in the Gallipoli campaign, was wounded and came back, then he rejoined the Berks Yeomanry and went to Palestine where he commanded D Squadron.

“He died there so that I could live.”

The battle in which he died was the British forces’ second attempt to capture the city of Gaza from the Ottoman army.

The British army lost 6,444 men.

Italian and French reinforcements were called and the allies finally broke though and gained control of Gaza in November 1917, followed by Jerusalem in December.