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He was one of 354 World War Two railway heroes who died in the conflict, commemorated by a unique war memorial - Stanier 8F heavy freight engine, 48773.
Mary and Roy, from Lodge Lane, joined other relations for a 'Meet the Engine' day organised by its owner and guardian, The Stanier 8F Locomotive Society Limited, in Kidderminster.
They were shown an entry commemorating Sapper Charles Dennis Byles in the roll of honour before accepting an invitation from the society's officers to ride on the footplate of 48773.
Travelling on the Severn Valley Railway, they enjoyed a trip to Bridgnorth and back.
The wartime loco bore 'The Sapper Limited' headboard as a tribute to Sapper Byles and the predecessors of two other families who visited that day.
Mary and Dennis were born at the home shared by both families at 4 Cliff Street, Frodingham - Mary in 1926, Dennis six years earlier on January 15. He was the only child of Dennis 'Big Den' and Gladys Byles and Mary's father, William, was Gladys's brother. 'Little Den' grew up there but Mary's family moved to various addresses.
Sapper Byles served with 153 Railway Operating Company Royal Engineers and Mary can trace her 'happy-go-lucky, kind and gentle' cousin's World War Two movements from call-up through UK training on to Aden, Persia (now Iran), Egypt and Italy.
He died in Italy, aged 24, on Wednesday, March 15, 1944. The circumstances remain a mystery although research is continuing.
He is one of 11 Railway Sappers buried in Italy's Bari War Cemetery, which is open permanently and may be visited any time.
Italy was the most dangerous overseas location for Railway Sappers, except for France, where more then 100 died in a single day when the Lancastria was lost off St Nazaire in 1940.
Stanier 8F number 48773, unique as the only land-based mobile war memorial in the country, regularly runs on the Severn Valley Railway but early in 2004 it will be withdrawn for a major overhaul. The entries on the Roll of Honour are identical to those in two Books of Remembrance - one of which was presented to the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent, and the other is destined for the Museum of Army Transport at Beverley later this year.
Before leaving, Mary and Roy received a copy of a video recording the dedication of 48773 in Kidderminster.
The locomotive, which in wartime operated in Persia and Egypt, was dedicated by the Dean of Hereford in 1986 to the memory of all British military railwaymen who gave their lives on active service in World War Two and the Roll of Honour was dedicated, last November, by Lt Gen Sir Scott Grant KCB, Chief Royal Engineer.
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