Ronald Arthur Chatters
West Mersea - correspondent Mrs Reeve, Captains Road

Military Funeral. The funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon of Pte. Ronald Arthur Chatters, who died in Colchester Military Hospital on Friday, Feb. 9, after an illness lasting only a few days. The deceased, with many other Mersea lads, had joined up in the Essex Regiment and had been billeted in Colchester. His death, so very sudden, has come as a great shock to his parents and many relatives in West Mersea. aged 21, he was the eldest son of Mr & Mrs Percy Chatters of Sapphire Cottage, St. Peter's Road, and another son is serving in the same regiment.
The coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack, surmounted by many beautiful wreaths, was borne on a gun-carriage to the Parish Church, where it was met by the vicar (Rev. C. Pierrepont Edwards, M.C.) and the Chaplain to the Forces (Capt. the Rev. E.G. Moreton). Brother soldiers formed a guard of honour as the cortege entered the church. At the graveside a firing squad was in attendance and fired a volley, and at the conclusion the appealing notes of "The Last Post" were sounded. The immediate mourners were his father (Mr Percy Chatters), brother, two sisters and other near relatives. Mrs Chatters was unable to be present owing to illness.
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Date: 2 February 1940