Arthur Edward Wood was born and brought up in Terling. He married in 1926, had two children and worked for a Writtle builder as a bricklayer. As a Territorial soldier he was called up at the outbreak of war and sent to France. He escaped from Dunkirk and then went to India and north Africa, before landing in Italy, one of the first Allied troops to do so. He was killed in action there in October 1943. His home was in Nalla Gardens.

Arthur was born in Terling in 1904, the son of the gardener Fred Wood (born in 1875) and Emily Wood (nee Aves) (1871-1950). Arthur's parents, who were both born in Terling, had married in 1896. His siblings included George Wood (born 1897), Elsie Wood (born 1899), Margaret Wood (born 1901), Bertha Wood (born 1903), and Grace Wood (born 1910). Arfthur was baptised at All Saints' Church in Terling on 17th July 1914. At the time his father was a gardener living in Terling.

The 1911 census found six year-old Arthur living with his parents, maternal grandfather and five siblings at Owls Hill in Terling where his father was a domestic gardener,

On 2nd August 1926 Arthur married Doris Lilian Pitt at Rettendon. At the time both were 22 years old. He was a bricklayer. She had been born in Rettendon in 1904. where she still lived, and was the daighter of Ernest Frederick Pitt, a miller. The couple had a son born in 1928 and a daughter born six years later.

Arthur Edward WOOD, Corporal, 108th (Essex) Company, Supplementary Reserve, Royal Engineers

Killed in action in Italy. Aged 39

Prior to the Second World War Arthur worked as a bricklayer for the Writtle builder Horace Barber. He was also a Territorial soldier with the 108th (Essex) Company, Supplementary Reserve, Royal Engineers, based at Chelmsford.

At the outbreak of the war he was mobilised and within three weeks was in France serving as Corporal 1983603. He survived the escape from Dunkirk and then spent time in India and north Africa, and was one of the first to land in Italy with the Fifth Army.

Arthur was killed in action in Italy on 29th October 1943. He was 39 years old. At the time of his death his wife and children were living at 45 Nalla Gardens, Chelmsford.

Today Arthur lies in grave VIII, A, 7 at Minturno War Cemetery in Italy.

He left an estate valued at £751.

Arthur is remembered on the Broomfield British Legion's war memorial and on a stained glass window at St. Mary’s Church in Broomfield. His widow died in 1995.

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