The following letter was received from Lucy Thomas after visiting the touring Unknown Warrior Exhibition held at Firepower during the summer.

'Reunited We Stand'

Pom Pom Whiting's story

Ninety years after 'England's lost son' returned from the Western Front the story of one soldier, Robert 'Pom Pom' Whiting re-united a family and gave testimony to the brave warriors of World War One.

Bob 'Pom Pom' Whiting was the London representative for the Unknown Warrior's commemorative stain glass window. His story includes a mammoth rise to footballing fame which saw Whiting play for such teams as Brighton and Hove, West Ham and Chelsea. Thus getting the nick-name 'Pom Pom' as he famously could kick with such force as an artillery gun. After recruiting himself in the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment along with many other men willing to follow in Pom Pom's footsteps, he pursued his own call of duty to be with his wife and family. Consequently being captured and tarnished as a 'deserter'. It was in his last minutes which Pom Pom again defied orders to save fellow comrades at Vimy Ridge which lead to his untimely death and now Whiting shall be remembered as a hero.

Being Robert Whiting's great great great granddaughter I was amazed to find such a fantastically put-together museum. The Unknown Warrior exhibition at Firepower, The Royal Artillery Museum has enlightened my family to the magnitude of the war and to the courageous life of Pom Pom.

It was clear to see that all those involved in the Unknown Warrior exhibition had a passion for the subject and after seeing the effort poured into their work it is tremendously hard not to feel moved by the silent soldier's stories. The museum's staff and friends that have worked on the Unknown Warrior project where able to discuss and exchange stories that they had personally discovered with Bob 'Pom Pom' Whiting's family.

When the Whiting family where asked to describe the feelings evoked by the exhibition the most popular term was 'over-whelming' definitely a mood shared by all.

Loretta Dickinson, Pom Pom's great granddaughter had unearthed a labyrinth of first-hand accounts of the famous football player and was able to share her information with the museum's curator Mark Smith and Pete Daniel the archivist at Westminster Abbey, who is also an avid Chelsea fan. She referred to him as, 'the David Beckham of his time'.

It was also agreed upon within our family the uncanny resemblance between Pom Pom and his great Grandson's Terry Whiting and Laurence Whiting!

Without the determination of those involved in the brilliant Unknown Warrior exhibition we, as a family, would not have been reunited and would not be able to comprehend the extent of our family history. The exhibition and those involved have taken their time in excavating fact from fiction and to create the most touching display I have ever witnessed.

'World War One effected almost every family' Mark Smith told me, so this exhibition reaches out to people on a monumental scale. The Unknown Warrior exhibition is an acknowledgement to all those who fought and fell for our county and it should never be forgotten.

By Lucy Thomas.