Letchworth Rugby Club have paid tribute to one of their number who died in World War Two.

As well as the laying of a wreath at the Baldock memorial on Sunday by ex-army Tony Simpson and first-team scrum-half Harvey Howman, the club are remembering their own fallen through club 'grave finder' Adam Winwood.

Letchworth lost 18 young men in the conflict between 1939 and 1945, some of these having played for both the town side and the Tabulators in the 30s, a time when Letchworth played home to two sides.

Winwood, as well as treasurer Chris Marshall and Leslie Wilsher, travelled to the grave of Oliver John Sinnatt at Ryes Memorial Cemetery, Bazenville, to lay a cap and wreath.

Letchworth president Brian Burke takes up the story.

He said: "Oliver John Sinnatt was only 22 when he fell on June 6, 1944, - D-Day.

"He was the son of Dr Oliver Sturdy Sinnatt, who had won an MC in World War One, and his wife May, who had moved to Meadow Way in Letchworth from Sleaford some four years before.

"Young Oliver was a lieutenant in the RAC, the Royal Artillery, and was in the thick of the fighting from the outset.

"A brother officer who wrote to his parents told them how the lieutenant 'had a job to do'.

"In order to facilitate an attack he got out of his armoured car to cut some wire in their path.

"They successfully did this but himself and his fellow operator were both killed by enemy fire before they could move off.

"If it had not been for his intense sense of duty he would have been safe.

"This, however, was typical of the younger Sinnatt who was a fearless rugby player in his youth.

"He had been with the Home Guard for two years and as he was in a reserved occupation he need not have joined up, but both he and younger brother David had listed with the RAC.

"The citation in The Citizen newspaper read 'his loss would be deeply and widely felt by his family and friends'."