Britain's 'Doubly Thankful' villages: The 19 hamlets where there are no war memorials because every soldier sent to fight in both conflicts came home - and the guilt survivors felt for making it back to their families

When the men and boys went off to fight for their country in the first half of the 20th century their families back home were left fearful they might never return. 

On the battlefields of Europe, the jungles of south east Asia, the deserts of north Africa the skies above Britain and in the maelstrom of the Atlantic, many lost their lives.

Over the course of 10 years during the First and Second World Wars, almost two million soldiers who left home would never come back to the loving families eager to embrace them again.

The tragedies hit every town and village across the country. No matter how remote or how small, not a single hamlet or settlement avoided the biggest impact of the war - the loss of its young men.

To this day we remember the glorious dead with heartfelt war memorials scattered across Britain paying tribute to their sacrifice.

But there are just over a dozen places where these solemn monuments don't exist because they had the ultimate blessing - they were able to welcome their boys home safely from the war not once, but twice. They are 'Doubly Thankful'. 

In the Cotswolds one such village reflects on how lucky it was not to have suffered anguish that had befallen so many others.

In Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire, 25 villagers signed up to serve in the First World War, while 36 did the same in the Second World War.

All of them came home alive, but many were forever changed by the experience, with some harbouring intense guilt that they had survived while their brothers in arms had not.

Tony Collett, who has lived in the village for all but 18 months of his 93 years, says that his father had refused to talk about his time in the Royal Artillery, which took him to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) during the First World War.

He said: 'He was wounded twice, once in the shoulder and once in the arm. In the Second World War, a lot of time he was up in Wick, Scotland and he ended up working at a prisoner of war camp near Stow.

'My father hardly ever discussed anything about the wars.'

Mr Collett, who had been too young to serve during the Second World War, said the village had been lucky to survive unscathed. 

Even when a German plane dropped 2,000 small incendiary bombs in the village on February 4, 1944, no people or animals were injured.

It is a far cry from its namesake village Lower Slaughter, which lies just a mile away and where 15 people died in the First World War alone.

It marks a vast chasm between the two small villages, and is part of the reason the humble people of Upper Slaughter are reluctant to shout about their luck, which has continued to this day.

Fred Keeling, who was born and raised in the village, went on tours of Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004 and 2007, returning home safely on both occasions.

His mother, Freddie, said: 'Quite a few people lost their lives in Lower Slaughter (the village just a mile away) so I suppose you wouldn't want to say too much would you.

'For a good while it wasn't talked about but now, in a way, I think we should count ourselves fortunate. We should recognise that we appreciate it.'

With the 80th anniversary of D-Day many will gather at their local war memorials to pay their respects to the glorious dead, but those in 'Doubly Thankful' villages will also say their graces.

In Herodsfoot in Cornwall, all 13 people whose names are inscribed on its small stone memorial returned home safely.

Veronica Nash, 74, will be among those saying her graces - her grandfather Herbert Medlen returned safely from the Western Front in 1919.

He would marry his sweetheart Gertrude Parsons and worked as a farm labourer and was eventually buried in a nearby churchyard - more than a century later three generations of his family still live in the village.

Ms Nash said that despite - or perhaps because of - his experiences Herbert, who was affectionately known as 'Pop', never spoke about the war.

'Pop was a lovely man, genuine, but he never said a word about his service.

'He lived the rest of his life in this area. We used to go up to the farm they rented and do everything with them, baking bread with my grandmother and feeding the chickens with Pop.'

She said that the impact of the war is at the 'front and centre in everybody's mind', adding: 'I feel so proud of what they did and they came back. It's wonderful.'

Up in East Yorkshire, the village of Catwick has remained similarly reluctant to brag about their good fortune of being 'Doubly Thankful'. 

According to Maureen Featherstone, 78, who lives in the village of less than 250 people, after the wars ended the residents felt 'shamed' by their good fortune. 

She said: 'It is sad because no one really remembers what happened back in the village then. When it was talked about it there was a kind of shame about it because no one from the village had died.' 

The lack of deaths during the two conflicts among the 60 men who signed up to fight, with the survivors putting it down to a 'lucky horse shoe' which was nailed to the door of the hamlet's blacksmith, John Hugill.

Mr Hugill would pin a penny or ha'penny to the horse show on the wooden door for each soldier who travelled to war, with those who returned insisting it had kept them safe.

Linda Samuel, whose family rebuilt the forge after it fell into disrepair 22 years ago, recalls: ' 'A lad working for the blacksmith had gone off to the First World War. His sweetheart asked the blacksmith to nail a coin next to the lucky horse shoe on the door. 

'Other people who had a loved one serving also asked for a coin. Thirty men all went to war and came back. One of them lost an arm so they took a little chink out of a coin.

'What is really amazing - you would have thought they were all in one regiment that was secreted away and it did not get shot at but that is not the case at all. They were all in different regiments.

'Two had gone to Canada for work and they joined a Canadian regiment. It was not [like] they were all in one unit which for some reason did not go to the front.

One way to appreciate the good fortune is not by erecting a war memorial to those who have fallen, but a monument celebrating an end to the conflict.

The village of Nether Kellet has one such 'Peace Stone', to commemorate the cessation of hostilities in 1945. 

Mike Ashton, who is the village lengthsman, said the Lancashire hamlet was 'really, really lucky' not to have had the same tragedies thrust upon it as others.

He said: 'We don't have a war memorial in the village because, fortunately, no one died in either wars.

'We have a Peace Stone to remember those from the village who went to fight in the world wars. We were really lucky that no one died.

'We moved the Peace Stone close to the park and football pitch when the original site was developed. I help make the plinth the stone is placed on.

'To be a doubly thankful village is rare. I think some servicemen may have returned injured but no one died fighting.'

Among the names on Nether Kellet's monument is Sgt Walter Jackson, who won the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in France during the Second World War.

In the Staffordshire village of Butterton, every time the bells at St Bartholomew's Church ring out, people are reminded of that conflict.

One of the bells in the historic place of worship is named the Thankful Bell, a nod to the its status as a 'Doubly Thankful' village.

All 28 men who served during the conflicts - 15 in the First World War, 13 in the Second - returned home alive. 

However, the wounds - both mental and physical - they brought with them lingered and made sure the devastating toll of the war was not forgotten.

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the end of the Armistace in 2018, Maggie Risby, chair of the Butterton History Group, said the effects of the war lingered on those who survived.

'Although our 15 brave men returned safely they brought back with them memories and injuries which sadly had an immense impact on their later lives,' she told The Times.

As  the country comes to a halt today to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on D-Day 80 years ago, those in a few select villages, will say their graces that all of their loved ones were allowed to come home.