Being November and finding an interesting statistic that Tranmere our visitors on the match nearest Armistice Day, had no less than 11% of League footballers killed in the two World Wars on their books at one time or another.

This made me ponder that, sadly, a whole team could be made up of Swindon footballers killed in the two World Wars. So here goes with what I have called a Remembrance XI.

Happily, no first-team keeper was killed, so the green jersey goes to Reg Menham. Reg should not be confused with father Bob, who was both goalkeeper and, for a brief time, director at the County Ground. Reg was killed in action in 1917 while serving with the Coldstream Guards.

The right back spot goes to another local lad, George Bathe. Born at Shrivenham, although he had made just one reserve appearance before volunteering, he might well have won a first-team place had he not been killed in 1915 while serving with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Regiment. He is buried at the Kemmel Chateau Cemetery.

The left back spot is occupied by Arthur Milton, who fell at the age of 31 at Paschendale while serving as an artilleryman and is buried at the Tyne Cot Cemetery. The fact that he had been playing for Sunderland for five seasons and cost what was then a hefty sum of money, £500, shows he was a quality player.

The right half spot goes to William “Bill” Imrie, the first of the World War Two casualties in the team. A Scotsman who had been born at Buckhaven, his footballing talents saw him move South. He signed for Swindon from Swansea in the Summer of 1939 but made only two........

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