Following on my from post the other day about Jim Wootton, I wanted to share some more photos of Matthew Keith Sillars (known as Keith).  Keith was my paternal Grandfather’s brother and unfortunately didn’t survive the war.  He was killed in action on 25 November 1941 and is buried at Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery in Egypt.  I previously wrote about Keith here and shared photos of his grave here.

The photos I digitised at the weekend show Keith before he left to serve in Egypt.

Two of the photos are of Keith on his wedding day.  The wedding to Joan Elizabeth Wilson was held at St Saviour’s Church, West Lyttelton on Saturday 23 November 1940.

I don’t believe there were any children from the marriage and I don’t know what became of Joan.

I do know that my Great-Grandmother (Keith’s mother) applied to receive Keith’s pension for being killed in action. She argued that she was under more hardship than his wife Joan, since she was a widow without an income and all 3 of her sons were serving overseas.

This last photo is of Keith (left) with my Grandfather at what looks to be Burnham Military Camp, just outside Christchurch, again this would have been early 1941.