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25401 2nd/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
Bertie Potter was born in Ballingdon around 1888, the son of Jacob and Hannah Potter. The family lived at 92 Ballingdon Street and his father was employed as a shoemaker and his mother was a tailoress. By 1901 his widowed mother had moved to 29 Cross Street.
Bertie enlisted in Sudbury, and served with the Suffolk Regiment (formerly 23102). It is not known when he transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers which formed part of 164th Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division.
In the Spring of 1917 the Division saw action in France during the Battle of Arras at the First (9 - 14 April) and Second (23 - 24 April) Battles of the Scarpe. By the summer the Division had moved up to the Ypres Salient in Belgium in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November) more commonly known as Passchendaele. On the first day the Allies gained 2,000 yards but at a cost of 3,000 casualties.
He was killed in action on 31 July 1917. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. Bertie was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Menin Gate in April 2006, April 2009 and October 2012.
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