14 November 2012

Charles Thomas Bothwell MC


I've had this photo for a while and until today I didn't know who this officer was.  This afternoon, I discovered the self-same photo on somebody else's tree (thanks Ancestry) and now know that this man is Lt Charles Thomas Bothwell MC (1887-1969).  His son Stan would later marry my father's cousin Olive and, whilst on active service, would be tragically killed in a road traffic accident in England in 1941. Olive never re-married and claimed a war widow's pension until she died in 2008 at the age of 93.

As for Charles Thomas Bothwell, he arrived in the Balkan Theatre of war as a sergeant, was commissioned second lieutenant on the 25th September 1916 and was awarded the Military Cross the following year.  His citation was published in the LG on the 16th August 1917 and reads:


I'd love to know where his medals are and reunite them with that of his son's.  Anyone know of their whereabouts?

7 April 2012

Lost Medals Australia



An honourable mention here to Lost Medals Australia and the associated Lost Medals Australia blog. Run by Lt Col Glyn Llanwarne, Lost Medals Australia has, since 2000, been returning lost medals to veterans or their families. This is a free service supported through donations of 'found' medals.  To date, an impressive 1111 medals have been returned.

The image on this post has been taken from the Lost Medals Australia blog and the fascinating story of the return of a First World War pair owned by a former mayor of St Kilda. Well done, Glyn, and thanks for following this blog.

6 April 2012

203507 Pte L A Harris, Essex Regiment



I picked up the Victory Medal to this man about eighteen months ago; part of a job lot from the second-hand market in Chelmsford.  I wrote about Stephen Smeeton - another component of the job lot - yesterday.  This is Leslie Harris's story.

The medal index card gives this man's name as Leslie, and little else.  He was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and so did not arrive overseas until 1916 at the earliest.  His number - 203507 - belongs to the series allocated to the 4th Battalion, Essex Regiment, and I know from my own research into army numbers that this number was not issued until after May 1917. 

There are surprisingly few candidates for Leslie A Harris recorded in the GRO's birth records. The most compelling candidate appears to be Leslie Arnold Harris who was born in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire and who appears on the 1911 census as a 12-year-old living with his family at 64 Salisbury Avenue, Rochford, Essex.  This would have made him an 18-year-old conscript in 1917.

The owner of my Victory medal certainly survived the war and, I believe, died in 1961.  There is a death for a 61-year-old Leslie A Harris recorded in the Brentwood District in the June quarter of that year.

Cap badge courtesy of North-East Medals.

5 April 2012

B-2966 Pte S S G Smeeton, Rifle Brigade


I picked up this man's Victory Medal some while back and thought it might be an idea to post what I know about him.  His medal index card tells us the following:

1. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
2. He was awarded silver war badge number 151770 which was mislaid, was found by the police,returned to him and subsequently acknowledged on the 20th June 1917
3. He arrived overseas in France on the 21st July 1915
4. He was a corporal when he stepped off the boat in France but was subsequently reduced in rank
5. He must have been discharged from the army prior to 20th June 1917 (see 2. above)
6. His British War Medal was incorrectly impressed and was returned on the 18th February 1921.  It was re-issued on the 21st December that year.

No service record survives for this man but the B prefix indicates that this man was either a reservist whose number had been re-allocated (which, incidentally, according to Queen's and King's Regulations, it shouldn't have been) or a time-expired regular who was re-enlisting.  I could find no surviving service record in WO 97 but his silver war badge roll entry confirms that he enlisted on the 1st September 1914 and was discharged on the 20th March 1917 as a result of wounds (rather than sickness).

A search through birth records yields one candidate: Stephen Samuel G Smeeton whose birth was registered in the West Ham district in the September quarter of 1885.  I have not located him on either the 1891 or 1901 census returns but he appears on the 1911 census as a 25 year-old stevedore living with his parents and five siblings at 68 Canton Street, Poplar.  A widowed sister-in-law, Bertha Kershaw, is also recorded and it is noted that his mother had given birth to eleven children, nine of whom were still living in 1911.  Stephen is recorded on the census as Stephen S J Smeeton and he is the only child who is recorded as having been born in West Ham.  The next youngest sibling is Albert James Smeeton aged 20, and therefore born around 1890, whose place of birth is noted as Poplar.  Presumably then, the family moved from West Ham to Poplar at some point between 1885 and 1890. Stephen is the only member of the family noted at that address on the 1915 electoral roll.

As regards Stephen's military service, let's assume he joined the army at the age of 18.  This would have made his year of enlistment as 1903 and a time when general short service enlistment terms were three years with the colours and nine on the reserve.  So perhaps he served until 1906 and was on the reserve when war was declared.  This doesn't seem right to me - his date of entry into France seems just too late for a much-needed reservist - but I'll have to content myself with this mystery in the absence of documentary evidence to the contrary.

The year after he was discharged from the army, Stephen Smeeton married Gwendoline E E Hiorns in Hackney.  Their marriage was recorded in the September quarter of that year. He and Gwendoline appear on the 1919 and 1920 electoral rolls living at 167 Mandeville Street, Hackney but by 1922 Stephen is living at 50 Spring Lane, Stamford Hill (Gwendoline does not appear) and he's still there, alone, in 1923 and 1924.  As well as confirming Stephen's address, the electoral rolls also give us his full name: Stephen Samuel George Smeeton.

I could find no evidence of issue from Stephen's marriage to Gwendoline Hiorns and after 1924 the trail goes cold until 1937 when Stephen Smeeton's death at the age of 51 is recorded in the registration district for Ongar, in Essex.

9 March 2012

The Burma Star


Qualification:
Awarded for service in the Burma campaign between 11th December 1941 and 2nd September 1945 inclusive.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star. The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below. The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE BURMA STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, dark blue with a wide red stripe (denoting the Commonwealth) down the centre and two orange stripes (denoting the sun) on either side. This ribbon, in common with all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
One: PACIFIC. Personnel qualifying for both the Burma Star and the Pacific Star were awarded the Star to which they first became entitled and a clasp denoting the second. When only ribbons were worn, a silver rose emblem signified the award of the clasp.

Qualification by service is listed below. Official visits did not qualify for this star unless these amounted to thirty days or more.

ROYAL NAVY & MERCHANT NAVY
Service at sea in the Bay of Bengal "... enclosed by a line running from the southernmost part of Ceylon for a disatnce of 300 miles south, thence to a point 300 miles west of the southernmost point of Sumatra, and continuing east to the western side of the Sundra Strait. The Malaca straits are included." (British Battles and Medals).

The 1939-1945 Star must have been earned by six months' service in operations before elegibility for the Burma Star could begin. (BBM)

Persons entering operationl service during the last six months of the war qualified for the star if they did not subsequently serve in another operational area. In this case the prior time qualification of six months did not apply. Naval personnel serving ashore qualified under the same rules as army personnel.

ARMY
Qualifying service in any part of Burma, the provinces of Bengal and Assam between 1st May 1942 and 2nd September 1945, China and Malaya between 16th February 1942 and 2nd September 1945.

RAF
Awarded to RAF personnel who had completed at least one operational sortie. Non-aircrew qualified under army rules.

Acknowledgements
Photo courtesy of medal auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.  The group, awarded to Sergeant Thomas Henry Harris of the Royal Artillery comprises a G.VI.R. Military Medal, 1939-45 Star, Burma Star; and Defence and War Medals. It was sold at auction in September 2011 for £1450 (hammer price).Text assistance from British Battles & Medals.

3 March 2012

The Pacific Star


Qualification:
Awarded for service in Pacific theatre of operations between 8th December 1941 and 2nd September 1945 inclusive.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star. The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below. The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE PACIFIC STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, a central yellow stripe (symbolising the desert) and two dark green stripes either side (symbolising forests). The red edges and light blue and dark blue stripes represent the army, air force and navy respectively. This ribbon, in common with all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
One: BURMA. Personnel qualifying for both the Pacific Star and the Burma Star were awarded the Star to which they first became entitled and a clasp denoting the second. When only ribbons were worn, a silver rose emblem signified the award of the clasp.

Qualification by service is listed below. Official visits did not qualify for this star unless these amounted to thirty days or more.

ROYAL NAVY
Service at sea in the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea and Indian Ocean east of the line running south of Singapore. Except in the case of those who served in the Pacific for less than six months after 2nd March 1945, the Pacific Star was only awarded to those who had served at least six months and qualified for the 1939-45 Star. Naval personnel serving ashore qualified under the same rules as army personnel.

ARMY
Qualifying service was restricted to territories (except Burma) which had been invaded.

RAF
Awarded to RAF personnel who had completed at least one operational sortie over the appropriate land or sea area.

Acknowledgements
Photo courtesy of medal auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.  Text assistance from British Battles &amp.

18 February 2012

The Africa Star


Qualification:
Awarded for one or more day's service in North Africa between 10th June 1940 and 12th May 1943 inclusive.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star. The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below. The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE AFRICA STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, one central red stripe on pale buff and with two narrow stripes, one of dark blue, one of light blue. This ribbon, in common with all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
Three: 8TH ARMY, 1ST ARMY and NORTH AFRICA 1942-43. Note that only one clasp was awarded to any one individual. Personnel qualifying for more than one clasp were awarded the first one to which they were entitled.  A silver rose emblem worn on a ribbon denoted the NORTH AFRICA 1942-43 clasp; a figure 8 denoting 8TH ARMY and a figure 1 denoting 1ST ARMY.

Qualification by service is listed below. Note that visits and inspections to or in the areas listed below did not qualify personnel for the award of this star unless these amounted to thirty days or more.

ROYAL NAVY
Any service at sea in the Mediterranean between the qualifying dates and/or service in support of the campaigns in Eritrea, Abyssinia and Somaliland between 10th June 1940 and 27th November 1941. Naval service ashore in the same area as Army operations also qualified.

MERCHANT NAVY
Those Merchant Seamen who took part in operations off the coast of Morocco between 8th November 1942 and 12th May 1943.

ARMY
Those serving in North Africa on the establishment of an operational unit. Service in West Africa was not included, but service in Abyssinia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Sudan and Malta was.

RAF
Those RAF personnel who landed in or flew over Abyssinia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Sudan or Malta (excluding West Africa) or territory occupied by the enemy.

Acknowledgements:

The photograph is courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb and shows the group awarded to Captain Harold John March of the Royal Army Service Corps. Captain March's medal group comprises the British Empire Medal, 1939-45 Star; Africa Star (with 8TH ARMY clasp), Defence and War Medals (with M.I.D. oak leaf), Coronation medal 1937. The group, sold at auction in December 2011 for £250 (hammer price).

British Battles & Medals for chapter and verse on this medal.

5 February 2012

The Air Crew Europe Star


Qualification:
Awarded for operational flying from United Kingdom air bases over Europe between 3rd September 1939 and 5th June 1944.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star.  The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below.  The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE AIR CREW EUROPE STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, light blue with black edges and two yellow stripes (symoblising continuous service by day and night). This ribbon, in common with all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
Two: ATLANTIC and FRANCE AND GERMANY. Note that only one or the other, not both, could be awarded to the Atlantic Star.

Those personnel who qualified for the Atlantic Star and/or the France and Germany Star were entitled to wear the clasp for which the second star would have been awarded. When just ribbons were worn, a silver rose on the Atlantic Star denoted the award of a clasp.

Acknowledgements:
The photograph is courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb and shows the group awarded to 1056077 Sergeant E. R. Mitchell of the Royal Air Force.  His medal group comprises the Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star (with ATLANTIC clasp) and the War Medal 1939-45.  The group, together with the sweetheart brooch illustrated, was offered for auction in September 2010 but was unsold on the day.

British Battles & Medals for chapter and verse on this medal.

The Atlantic Star


Qualification:
Awarded to commemorate the Battle of The Atlantic between 3rd September 1939 and 8th May 1945.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star.  The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below.  The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE ATLANTIC STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, equal bands of (from left) watered blue, white and sea-green (symoblising the waters of the Atlantic). This ribbon, in common with all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
Two: AIR CREW EUROPE and FRANCE AND GERMANY. Note that only one or the other, not both, could be awarded to the Atlantic Star.

Those personnel who qualified for the Atlantic Star AND the Air Crew Europe Star and/or the France and Germany Star were entitled to wear the clasp for which the second star would have been awarded. When just ribbons were worn, a silver rose on the Atlantic Star denoted the award of a clasp.

Acknowledgements:
The photograph is courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb and shows the group awarded to 530644 Flight Sergeant Andrew Brown of the Royal Air Force who completed 40 operational sorties including 18 sorties to Berlin, the famed “Big City”, as a Mosquito Navigator

Flight Sergeant Brown's medal group comprises the Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star (with copy clasp AIR CREW EUROPE); Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, and Mentioned in Dispatches oak leaf; The group, sold at auction in September 2011 for £1700 (hammer price).

British Battles & Medals for chapter and verse on this medal.

4 February 2012

The 1939-45 Star


Qualification:
Awarded for service in the Second World War between 3rd September 1939 and 2nd September 1945.

Description:
Bronze, 43mm diameter six-pointed star.  The Royal cypher GRI with the roman numerals VI below this.  The cypher is surmounted by a crown and within a circlet which reads, THE 1939-1945 STAR. All the Second World War Stars were designed by The Royal Mint.

Ribbon:
32mm wide, equal bands of dark blue (symoblising the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy), red (symbolising the Army) and light blue (symbolising the Royal Air Force).  This ribbon, and all WW2 Star ribbons, was designed by His Majesty the King, King George VI.

Suspension:
A ring attached to the uppermost point of the star.

Naming:
Issued unnamed although some stars may have been privately engraved.

Clasps:
One: Battle of Britain.

Acknowledgements:
The photograph is courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb and shows the group awarded to Squadron leader N J Wheeler of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who flew Hurricanes in No 615 Squadron during the Battle of Britain.  The group, sold at auction in December 2011 for £2900 (hammer price) comprises the Air Force Cross, G.VI.R., 1939-45 Star (with copy clasp Battle of Britain); Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Air Efficiency Award, G.VI.R., 1st issue. 
 
British Battles & Medals for assistance with the text.

12 January 2012

Punjab and Sutlej Campaign Medals


I was responding to a query the other day from somebody whose relative had died in India in the early 1850s and who had probably served during the Punjab and Sutlej campaigns with the 29th Regiment of Foot.

The Sutlej Campaign Medal and The Punjab Campaign Medal make a very nice pair that would grace any collection (and certainly don't grace my own yet).  DNW sold a pair to a 29th Foot man in 2002 for £800 and he'd got a clasp for Sobraon on his Sutlej medal and Chilianwala and Goojerat on his Punjab medal.

The pair illustrated above show the same entitlement as those awarded to the 29th Foot man but these were awarded to Captain E A C D'Oyly of the Bengal Horse Artillery and were sold by DNW at auction for £4800 in June 2005.  You can read more about Captain D'Oyly on the DNW site.  Image courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb.

2 January 2012

5942061 RQMS John William Beeby Gale, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment


Medals: 1914 Star (with clasp) Trio, Army LSGC.

A few weeks before Christmas I was delighted to acquire the medals of a man I had first come across in 1981. The image above appeared in an autograph album kept by a Broomfield-born VAD nurse, Edith Oliver. She had moved to Chailey in Sussex before the First World War and worked as a Lady's Companion to Margaret Blencowe in the village. She joined the local VAD detachment - Sussex 54 VAD - and between 1914 and 1918 she nursed at two auxiliary hospitals: Hickwells in Chailey and Beechlands (or Beechlands House) at the neighbouring village of Newick. John Gale was one of many men - albeit probably one of the most senior NCOs - who she cared for during her time with the VAD detachment. This is John Gale's story.

He was born at Ellington, Huntingdonshire in September 1877, the son of Angelina Gale (nee Smith) and Charles Gale who had married at Huntingdon in 1871. On 23rd October 1905 he enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment aged 18 years and one month. He gave his trade as farm labourer and became 8355 Pte John W B Gale.

In all probability, John Gale's military career would have begun with 10 weeks' drill at the regimental depot at Bedford followed by two years' service in the UK. This would then have been followed by service overseas and by 1907 the 2nd Battalion was in Gibraltar, would move to Bermuda in 1910, followed by South Africa in 1912. In that year, Lance-Corporal Gale, serving with A Company, is recorded in the regimental magazine The Wasp as a contributor to the 2nd Battalion benevolent fund.

When war was declared with Germany in August 1914 the 2nd Battalion was stationed at Robert's Heights, Pretoria. It was mobilised on the 10th August and Gale and the rest of the battalion set sail for England aboard HMT Kenilworth on the 27th of that month. After a brief stop at the island of St Helena, the battalion arrived at Southampton on the 19th September where it was assigned to the 21st Infantry Brigade in the 7th Division. The battalion sailed on two ships, SS Cornishman and SS Winefredian, arriving at Zeebrugge on the 6th October.

John Gale's medal index card shows that he landed overseas as a lance-sergeant and records held at Bedfordshire County Record Office note that he was overseas until the 2nd November 1914 when, according to his own autograph entry in Nurse Oliver's album, he was wounded. Records at the Bedfordshire archives note that his wound was a GSW (gunshot wound) to the chest. It seems likely that he was wounded on the 31st October, this from the 2nd Battalion War Diary (transcribed and augmented by Steve Fuller):

31 Oct 1914
Near Inverness Copse. Early in the morning about 2.30 A.M. orders were received to occupy a small fir wood about 250 yards in front of our line which was then held by L.North Lancs.R. Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & 2 platoons of C Company were ordered to hold this position. This wood had been subjected to heavy shell fire from two sides during the previous day. Shell fire started as soon as it was light. It soon became evident that the enemy were advancing in force on the left of the wood held by Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & also on the right. The Adjutant went to report the situation to Brigade H.Q.& almost immediately on his return to Battalion H.Q. 2 orderlies arrived with an order from the Brigadier to retire fighting towards MENIN-YPRES Road. Part of the Battalion moved back in compliance of this order. An order was sent to Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] to retire from the fir wood upon the Battalion. Part of the Battalion remained in the trenches till late in the afternoon about 4.30 p.m. when they were brought back & established a line which they held till relieved on Nov.5/6. The losses were very severe on this day. The C.O. Major J.M.Traill [John Murray TRAILL] & 2nd in Command Major R.P.Stares [Robert Percy STARES] remained in the trenches & were shot at short range. Lieut.Paterson [John Agar PATERSON] was killed in the fir wood. Lieut.Gott [Gilbert Ewart GOTT] was wounded in the Fir wood. Captain A.B.Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] was twice wounded in the fir wood & captured. Captain C.S.Garnet Botfield [Charles Sidney GARNETT-BOTFIELD] was severely wounded. 2/Lieut.W.Dixon [William DIXON] wounded. Captain E.H.Lyddon [Ernest Hugh LYDDON] missing [Comment; later assumed KIA]. Lieut.Anderson [Wilfred Cruttenden ANDERSON] missing. The Battalion strength on night October 31st-1st November was 4 officers, 350-400 other ranks. 4 officers were Captain & Adjutant C.C.Foss [Charles Calverley FOSS, VC, DSO], 2/Lieut.B.H.Waddy [Bentley Herbert WADDY, MC], Lieut.S.D.Mills [Stephen Douglas MILLS, MC], Transport Officer, Captain & Quarter Master H.Cressingham [Hugh CRESSINGHAM]. [Comment; also killed was Lieutenant Donald Godrid Campbell THOMSON] A short line was taken up and entrenched.


The wound was severe enough to keep John Gale in England for almost a year. He returned to The Western Front on the 19th October 1915 (having fortuitously missed the Battle of Loos) and rejoined the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment at Bourecq.

In December 1915 he 7th Division’s 21st Brigade was assigned to the 30th Division, its four battalions of regular soldiers being mixed in with the newly created (and inexperienced) Pals battalions. The Bedfordshire’s new brigade was the 89th and they shared it with Kitchener volunteers from the 17th, 19th and 20th King’s Liverpool Regiment.

The 2nd Bedfords played a supporting role on 1st July 1916, following the 17th and 20th King’s as they moved through cut barbed wire to take their objectives as planned. The other brigades had also enjoyed similar successes and by the end of the day the division had taken all of its objectives and could claim the distinction of having captured the first three field guns of the battle as well as Montauban, the first village to fall.

On 10th July, orders were received that the 2nd Bedfords would attack Trones Wood the following day. Having taken Bernafay Wood almost without a struggle, Trones Wood was proving a much tougher nut to crack. Initial attacks on 8th July by battalions from the 21st Brigade had successfully established a foothold on the south eastern edge of the wood, but subsequent attacks had either failed or been met by stubborn resistance in a see-saw series of engagements which saw portions of Trones Wood switch from German to English control and then back to German. By the time John Gale and The Bedfords moved up to play their part in the action, the wood was still largely in German hands.

Despite the intensity of artillery and machine gun fire concentrated in the area over the previous three days, Trones Wood was still thick with undergrowth that made it difficult to see more than four yards in front. Into this tangle, the Bedfords had advanced at 3:10am, getting to within 400 yards of the south eastern edge of the wood before being spotted by German machine gunners. Thirty five minutes later they had managed to reach the southern end but not without sustaining many casualties on the way in. Two decades later, in a letter published in The Great War I Was There, Private E G Robinson, also of A Company, wrote:

“The first thing that greeted me was a pair of legs, but no body, cut off as clean as with a knife. Farther in, the dead lay in heaps, you couldn’t move without stepping on them… The wood was very dense so we could not see far ahead. We struck off towards the edge of the wood and we came to a clearing where we could see a trench and it was lousy with Germans. At this point we lost touch with the officer and never found what happened to him so we returned to the main body and reported… The branches of trees were flying about as bad as shells and bullets. We were troubled quite a lot by snipers who were up in the trees at the far end of the wood. Captain Tyler said we had better try to drive them out, so he took our platoon forward with that idea. But Jerry had other ideas, and promptly let loose hell: we dived from one tree to another, and the bullets were cutting the leaves and bark round our ears… Eventually we got back to our funk holes with the remainder of the Company. There was no rest of any sort, what with bombing, sniping, machine guns, shells, wounded and dying screaming, the stink of dead bodies, it was Bedlam.”

The remainder of the day followed the now familiar pattern of attack and counter attack, the Bedfords, supported by two companies of the 17th King’s managing to hold on to the southern portion of Trones Wood until relieved on the morning of the 13th by a battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment. The operation cost the Bedfords 244 casualties including John Gale who had been hit before even getting as far as the wood. He gets a mention in the battalion war diary entry for the 11th July:

"Whilst the men were digging in, strong patrols worked the interior of the wood collecting stragglers and bombing the enemy in their Trenches and Dug-outs, and accounted for a great number. "A" & "B" Companies were leading Companies in the Advance at 3.10 a.m. and were particularly unfortunate in losing many N.C.Os on entering the wood, including the C.S.M. of "A" Company (C.S.M.GALE)."

Bedfordshire archives records note that John Gale received a shell wound to his right knee. He must have remained in hospitals overseas for a couple of weeks as records show that he returned to the UK on the 26th July.

Back in England, John Gale would presumably have been sent to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton before being sent to Beechlands in Newick, and his rendezvous with Nurse Oliver. He almost certainly would have met some of the men below, posing for Nurse Oliver's camera at Beechlands in 1916.


In the October quarter of 1916, John Gale married Emily Jane Warman at The St George's Hanover Square district. He spent the remainder of the war in England and, on the face of it at least, appears to have been untroubled by his wounds in his subsequent military career. He gets a number of mentions in The Wasp; playing football in 1922, winning the Spoon Shoot in July 1924 and a whist drive in 1924.

RQMS John Gale was discharged at Bedford on the 22nd October 1927 on the termination of his engagement. His conduct was recorded as exemplary and his address on discharge given as Kempston Baracks, Bedford. He was awarded a pension of 56d a day for life and had already been awarded the LSGC with gratuity in April 1924.

John Gale died on the 6th March 1943 aged 52. He is buried in Flitwick churchyard in Bedfordshire.