3 men, 3 British soldiers, buried in 2 different cemeteries. But still forever connected. Because of that one fateful afternoon, that one fateful minute, there in that Brabant village.
 
Hubert Orr (1910 – 1944)
Buried in the CWGC cemetery in Overloon, grave number 14, section III, row E
 
David Silvertop (1912 – 1944)
Buried in the Roman Catholic churchyard in Sint Anthonis, grave number 4
 
Maurice Lock (1915 – 1944)
Buried in the Roman Catholic churchyard in Sint Anthonis, grave number 3

The fatal fork junction

“We’ve got a troop attachment on that other road, haven’t we?”
“Yes, of course we have.”
“But I don’t think that was one of ours. It sounded a bit like a German machine gun.”
“Yes, it did a bit.”
(Source: quote from ‘Roscoe the bright shiner’, Biography of Charles Barnet ‘Roscoe’ Harvey)

In the bright sunlight, the monument in Sint Anthonis casts its shadow over the stones.
A few cars, cyclists and pedestrians pass this spot.
Now it is a rustic spot in the village.
But at the same time, it is the spot that was the dramatic finale of a series of rapidly successive events all those years ago. Where the liberation of the village seemed to go without too many problems, but where that day suddenly turned into a very dark day.
And where 3 men would totally unexpectedly become forever connected: Hubert Orr, David Silvertop and Maurice Lock.

Maurice Charles Lock is born in April or May 1915 in St Thomas in the district Exeter, in Devon. St Thomas is an area of Exeter and is only separated from the city itself by the river Exe. He is the son of Arthur George Lock and Eloise (Elsie) Lock (maiden name Welshman).
Father Arthur serves in the Essex Regiment during World War I and is killed at the front on 19 September 1918.
 
The Lock family moves to Newton Poppleford, a village east of the city of Exeter.
Maurice Lock is a talented football player. In 1933, at the age of 18, he starts playing for Exeter City Football Club on an amateur basis. He first plays in the reserves in the Western League and Southern League. Maurice makes such an impression that he signs a professional contract with the club on 29 December 1933. The next day, 30 December 1933 he already plays his first professional game, the away game against the Taunton Town Reserves, which will result in a 3 – 2 defeat for Lock’s team.
 
Read the continuation of the biography and file on Hubert Orr, David Silvertop, Maurice Lock and the drama at Sint Anthonis in the full version of “Faces from the Past” below.

See the extended list in the full version.