Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 28 March , 2003 Share Posted 28 March , 2003 Flipping through some records today at the PRO I came across the following record: 26993 Pte J W Roberts Coldstream Guards 07 Jul 1918: Called up 01 Nov 1918: Embarked Folkstone 05 Nov 1918: Arrived Base Depot 08 Nov 1918: Joined 3rd Battalion 10 Nov 1918: Gun Shot Wound - Groin! 11 Nov 1918................... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 28 March , 2003 Share Posted 28 March , 2003 10 Nov 1918: Gun Shot Wound - Groin! OUCH, that just HAD to hurt! It looks like he was unlucky, but how many men fought from 'day 1' (more or less) and were killed in the last couple of days? There has to be a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 28 March , 2003 Share Posted 28 March , 2003 Lee, My eyes just watered at the thought! Can't comment on WW1 but in the Falklands Pte Richard Absolon of 2 Para, who was awarded the MM, trod on a land mine 3 hours before the ceasefire RIP Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 28 March , 2003 Share Posted 28 March , 2003 It looks like he was unlucky, but how many men fought from 'day 1' (more or less) and were killed in the last couple of days? There has to be a few. Probably few in the last couple of days of the war, but the last great offensive of the war was on 4th November; many no doubt died on that day. One of these was Lt-Col J.Marshall VC, Irish Guards attach. 15/Lancashire Fusiliers. He had served with the Belgian Army from August 1914, and then fought on the Western Front as a British officer (largely in 32nd Division) from 1916 onwards until his death at Ors on 4.11.18. He had been wounded something like ten times prior to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 28 March , 2003 Share Posted 28 March , 2003 but in the Falklands Pte Richard Absolon of 2 Para, who was awarded the MM, trod on a land mine 3 hours before the ceasefire It is true, when your time is up there is no way of getting out of it. My dad was a Middlesex Fireman (& a London Fireman after the great amalgamation), one of his colleagues was killed on his last night shift after donkey's years in the job. He was partially buried by a warehouse roof caving in during a fire, managed to pull himself free but was crushed as the rest of the roof fell on him as he got to the door! One of his other colleagues was killed whilst testing a Turntable Ladder, he was at the top of the 100' ladder when it snapped and dropped him into the drill yard! PAUL: Cheers for the info. VC, wounded about 10 times? Not the sort of CO to have if you're after a quiet life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Can't comment on WW1 but in the Falklands Pte Richard Absolon of 2 Para, who was awarded the MM, trod on a land mine 3 hours before the ceasefire Not wishing to be picky, but 24557055 Pte. Richard J. de M. Absolon MM was a member of Patrol Company, 3 Para. He was actually killed by Argentine mortar fire on the Eastern slope of Mt.Longdon on the morning of 13th June 1982 - a full 24 hours before the ceasefire. He was employed as a sniper/scout and his (posthumous) M.M. was for finding a route to Mt.Longdon,keeping the enemy harrassed,taking out an Argentine sniper,and basically showing great coolness in the face of enemy fire. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Talking about unlucky soldiers, I always think about a couple of men in the 11th Battalion AIF. Captain Walter Hallahan MC was an original member of the battalion that formed in 1914 and rose from the ranks and fought through Gallipoli, Pozieres and the Somme, Bullecourt, 3rd Ypres & Passchendaele, the fighting around Hazebrouck in April 18, and the August offensive only to be killed in the battalion's last attack of the war on Spetember 18th 1918.(the previous week he had just been married in England) The battalion commander had kept him out of the main attack, placing him in charge of a reserve company in order to protect him, but unfortunately Hallahan was killed by a shell. He is buried in Tincourt cemetery alongside other men of his battalion killed in the last attack, many of whom were similarly Gallipoli veterans. Later on when the 11th were being withdrawn from the line for a rest, the Commander and the Adjutant of the 11th both of whom were original battalion members were killed by a bomb dropped by an aeroplane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 I think there was a Canadian sniped at 10.55 AM on 11.11.18. Was that German sniper just plain mean or putting in a full days work for a full days pay. I suspect a combination of both. I hope the rest of that sniper's life was suitably miserable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Dave, Thanks for verifying that. Richard Absolon was from Weybridge and the info I quoted came from the local paper last year. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Samuel Fuller's semi-autobiographical film 'The Big Red One' starts with the Lee Marvin character, who later becomes a veteran sergeant in the Second World War, killing a German unaware that the Armistice has already come into effect. My memories of this not terribly good picture are a bit vague but it could conceivably be based on a real incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 I think there was a Canadian sniped at 10.55 AM on 11.11.18. Was that German sniper just plain mean or putting in a full days work for a full days pay. You are thinking of Lawrence Price of the 28th Canadian Inf - he was actually sniped at 10.58am. The last French soldier to be killed was Soldat Trebuchon, who fell on the Meuse at 10.45am. He and all the men who were killed that day had their dates of death changed 'for official purposes' to 10th November... a cover up, we'd call it now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 I thought Price's name was George but Paul is rarely wrong. The story has been around that he was sniped while accepting flowers from a shcool girl but I think that has been proven false. The entire last few days of Canadian fighting in and near Mons was quite controversial, Currie had to defend himself in a huge suit in Canada, actually he brought the libel suit when accused of causing needless death. There is an excellent book in print on the subject but I cannot remember the name and once again use the excuse that books are at home, I am at work and besides that just having hit 60 I am not supposed to rmember much past my cats names! See many of you soon at AGM and forum folk dinner am really fired up about leading over 40 Americans to the Salient, most have not been before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 What was the date of Wilfred Owen's death? I know it was only a day or so before the Armistice. The arrival of the telegram to his family co-incided with the church bells ringing out in celebration on Armistice Day. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Wilfred Owen died 04.11.18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Paul(s) You are both right ! The CWGC has him as George Lawrence Price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somme1916 Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 I must say Roberts, J. W. seems very unlucky in deed but as for the final casualties being any unluckier than those that fell earlier in the war I’m not so sure. Yes losing one’s life right as the war ends does bring the futility of war to the forefront but are these men really any more unlucky than either the first or any of the others for that matter who died? I’ve given it some thought and I personally feel that all who lost their lives or were maimed, either physically or mentally, as being unlucky. On the other hand, assuming Roberts lived, what a story he had to tell and the pints he got for telling it. Flash froward to a pub in 1939 the 1000th telling is about to take place; "Hey J. here’s a pint, tell these Territorials about what happened to you back in ‘18" (laughter from the locals breaks out). :"There I was (most of the modern war stories I've heard begin with these words) sit’n at home when I got this telegram . . . and that’s when I got shot in the bleep”. More laughter followed by a few more pints from the Territorials. Well maybe he wasn’t so unlucky after all? Here’s to you J. W. Robert, cheers! Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 Following on from George Lawrence Price, the last British casualty was believed to be Private George Edwin Ellison of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. Both of these men are buried in St Symphorien Cemetery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted 29 March , 2003 Share Posted 29 March , 2003 On a slight variation to this thread Captain John Kenneth Tulloch Whish of 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment joined the battalion in France on 6 September 1914 and was killed in action just 2 days later. An experienced officer he joined the East Surrey's in 1899, served with the 2nd Battalion in the South African War, was twice mentioned in despatches and had also seen service in East Africa with the King's African Rifles. He's buried in Perreuse Chateau Franco British National Cemetery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 31 March , 2003 Share Posted 31 March , 2003 Following on from George Lawrence Price, the last British casualty was believed to be Private George Edwin Ellison of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. Both of these men are buried in St Symphorien Cemetery. And aren't both of them buried within (virtual - before anyone tries it!!!)spitting distance of the (possible) first casualty, Pte .J.Parr of the Middlesex R.? Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 31 March , 2003 Share Posted 31 March , 2003 Dave, Thanks for verifying that. Richard Absolon was from Weybridge and the info I quoted came from the local paper last year. Ian Ian, I think the paper got Pte Absolon mixed up with the poor "Tom" (I have his name somewhere) who stepped on a land mine at the beginning of the battle for Mount Longdon, thus alerting the Argentine defenders to the presence of their British attackers while they were trying to get into assault positions. A copy of Pte. Absolon's London Gazette citation for his M.M. (Oct.1982)can be found on the SAMA 82 website. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivor Lee Posted 4 April , 2003 Share Posted 4 April , 2003 Although not a man who served from 1914 he is, in my view, one of the unluckiest soldiers of the war. Private John Byrne enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers on 20 November 1915. Transferred to the KLR in March 1917 and subsequently to the Labour Corps in November 1917. John Byrne remained in the Labour Corps until he was demobilized on 15 June 1919. However in 1919 the War Office asked for volunteers to serve for 1 year on battlefield clearance. John Byrne volunteered and was posted to 48 Company, Labour Corps on 1 July 1919. On the 20 October 1919 he was part of a large working party clearing the battlefield. He was one of a group of 10 men given the task of preparing the mid-day meal for the working party. They lit a fire on a piece of ground under which was an unexploded shell. The shell exploded killing seven men including John Byrne and wounding three others. On top of all this these men are not included in Soldiers Died! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 4 April , 2003 Share Posted 4 April , 2003 Ivor, That is almost worse than L/Cpl Silas Dennis! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurice davis Posted 9 April , 2003 Share Posted 9 April , 2003 We have a relation who enlisted 14 sept 1914 went all through the war to see the 11 Nov 1918 and died 5 days later of the flu, as did so many I call that unlucky regards Maurice Davis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 10 April , 2003 Share Posted 10 April , 2003 My candidate is Lt Col William Minto of the RGA, who came through the war in one piece, only to die on 2 July 1919 from injuries received whilst firing a salute to celebrate the signing of the peace with Germany on the 28 June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 10 April , 2003 Share Posted 10 April , 2003 Yup! That's pretty unlucky! I think that beats an Australian relative of mine who,after serving from Gallipoli through to 1918 on the Western front, drowned on 11th November 1918 in a boating lake in Sydney after a little too much celebration. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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