A GRANDDAUGHTER has told of her entire family's pride at attending a dedication ceremony at the grave of their soldier grandfather who none of them ever knew.

Lance Corporal Ray Halliday, of Stockton, was just 28 years old when he was shot in a trench at the last day of fighting in the doomed Battle for Arnhem on September 17, 1944.

The father-of-three's remains and that of 13 other unidentified soldiers were buried in a mass grave at a road junction in Holland before being interred properly in Oosterbeek War Cemetery as being ‘known unto God’ in 1946.

Luckily detailed records were taken of the bodies and The Royal Netherlands Army's Recovery and Identification were able to identify Lance Corporal Halliday from his dental records and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) began to track down family.

Sadly, all three of the soldier's children had died in the intervening years but his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other family members were eventually found and, reunited as a large family unit, they all attended the grave dedication ceremony at Oosterbeek War Cemetery.

One of his grandchildren, Joanne Pritchard, of Billingham, had never even seen a photograph of her grandfather before being contacted by the MOD.

She explained how her own father, also Ray – who she describes as "my all-time hero" – was only two-years-old when his father died. However, he did attempt to track down his father's grave in the 1970s.

Mrs Pritchard, who said two of the other five Border Regiment soldiers identified with her grandfather had no family at the service, added: "It was just so sad for us that Raymond's three children, Patricia, Valerie, and my dad Ray weren't with us to see this day.

"My sister Julie, placed a photograph of our dad on the grave which made me wish more than anything that he was still with us.

"He died in 1999 aged 58 of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I always wish I could have had three more days with him– one for him to walk me down the aisle the day I married Nick, one day for him to have met my beautiful daughters and one for this day. Although if I had only had one day, this would have been it.

"I imagined my dad walking round the cemetery searching for his dad's grave....It made me realise how lucky we are to have been given this opportunity."

Other members of the family there include Mrs Pritchard's sister, Julie, and her cousins Glen Brocklesby and Trevor Halliday as well as all the family's children and partners.

The ceremony involved heartbreaking poems read by modern-day British soldiers and the last post was played.

She added: "The whole experience was impressive, emotional, stunning and awesome from start to finish.

"It was a fitting tribute to a real hero who was recently found but now remembered forever."