Pte George Henry Joce

[ddycher]

There must be many stories like this. Where soldiers lived through the war only to die in the last days or hours.

This one I am particularly interested in as George Joce was a Pte (203563) in the 5th Devons who died on the very last day of the war. More intrigueing for me is that he died in Palestine (buried at Haifa) although the Bn left for France in May. The 33rd Combined Hospital didnot move there until 15th October. Currently I can only summise that he had been ill for a long time and died of unknown illness on the last day of the war. I would love to find out more about him but have not gotten very far at present. Know he was from Chulmleigh and that he enlisted in Tiverton and was 25 at the time of his death. His regt number I would normally have associated with the 4th (Reserve) Bn than with the 5th Devons. Nothing more. I would appreciate any insight.

On the same vein does anyone else have a soldier in the Bn's that they are researching who died on the last day ? Any stories to share ?

Regards

Dave

[sotonmate]

Dave

Ancestry UKs SDGW responds to number of deaths on 11.11.1918 at 513.

Sotonmate

[ddycher]

Sotonmate.

Its an awful lot - very sad really.

There are lots of threads on "the last casualty" aspect of the 11th Nov on the forum. A good example is :

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...howtopic=102361

But little on the personal side of soldiers who either :

a. Lived through the whole war only to die on the last day or

b. Joined up in the last months only to be killed in their first action.

These are the aspects I find most poignant. For the families at home these must have been especially tragic.

The other area particularly relevent from my own research is those wounded in November who lived through the armistice and subsequently died of their wounds having known the war was won. I have a number like this in my files.

Regards

Dave

[pw643]

On my RFA men I have nearly 200 who died within two weeks of the 11th, I can't imagine that these solders will have written home with the news of victory only to be followed with the news of their death.

I have 11 names so far on my database of those on the 11th.

Regards

Paul