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BARNARD CASTLE, England — Carved into the simple obelisk commemorating the fallen are the names of five sons of Margaret and John McDowell Smith. There’s a story behind the name that isn’t there — a sixth brother, Wilfred — and a century after First World War a local historian has dug out the details from archives.

Wilfred Smith’s survival is a story of sacrifice amid a war that demanded so much of it from virtually every family in Britain.

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Because long before there was the fictional tale of Saving Private Ryan, there was the real-life story of saving Pvt. Smith.

The people of Barnard Castle have long known the story of the Smith brothers and that Wilfred, or Willie as he was known, survived.

But how that happened was largely unknown until local historian Peter Wise searched the recently digitized archives of the local newspaper, the Teesdale Mercury. In a minuscule item buried at the bottom of a long grey column came the answer: Queen Mary, wife of King George V, heard about the sacrifice of the brothers and intervened to send Willie home.