MARILYN Corrigan's grandfather George Brooker was trying to save the life of a stranger when he was hit by a sniper's bullet.

A 32-year-old father-of-three, who was a stretcher-bearer in the Army, lost his arm after the incident in 1918 and died from complications from the wound later that year.

Mrs Corrigan, 64, from Headington, said: "My grandmother was 30 years old and left with three children and little more than the death penny which came with her husband's death certificate."

George Brooker had been an apprentice journeyman before the outbreak of war.

He was born in Red Lion Square, Oxford, and after marrying Louisa Hemmings in 1910, they lived in Blackfriars Road, Oxford. Mrs Corrigan said: "My mother grew up not remembering her father, but years later she went to Tidworth, near Salisbury, to visit his grave at the military cemetery.

When she told the cemetery keeper whose grave she was looking for, he told her it had suddenly fallen down the previous day. It was almost like he was expecting her."