1/4 OBLI casualty 27 4 15

[Chris B]

Hello

If anyone has acces to the 1/4 War Diary I'd be grateful if you could let me know it shows any further info regarding the death on 27 4 15 of Matthew Strong - my Great Uncle.

All that the Chronical says is "April 27th - A man of B Company was killed". I realise that the Chronicle extract is from the Regimental Diary but I'm not sure if it's a full or partial extract.

Regards

Chris

[gordon christie]

Chris,

I have a book published by the Banbury Guardian 1919 " war record 1/4 OBLI."

April 27

page 4 "marched back to Romarin then recieved orders to take over birdcage sector in front of PLoegsteert wood."

there is no mention or details of actions or casualties.

In the roll of officers and men KIA

3107 pte strong , M c coy kia 27.4.15, place of burial PLoegsteert

He is the second man of the Btn to be KIA.

Hope this is of use. My great grand father was KIA whilst in 1/1 OBLI. Try asking the Talmers about OBLI they have a relative KIA from 1/4, just days after my relative and probably within a few tens of metres.

Our thanks to these men who served their country.

Gordon.

[Chris B]

Gordon

Many thanks for the reply.

The ref to Mathew being buried in Plugstreet is interesting because I've failed to find any record of a grave. Matthew is remembered on the Plugstreet Memorial, which we visited in July 06. The inference is that the grave or marker was later 'lost'.

It's also interesting that the book refers to 'c' Company. The medal card and the Chronicle both show B Company but both Companies are shown as being in the line near Prowse Point until coming out to Romarin on 27 April the day that he was killed.

Regards

Chris

[gordon christie]

Chris,

the last column on the page is "place of burial ", I think in 1919 they wanted everyone to think their kin got buried. In my great grandfathers (KIA july '16) file in the records there is a letter from his mother asking for exact location of the grave. The response is something like "this grid square". In reality they were allready vapour or cleaned bones within 8 days at that time of year. Although it was known he died he has no known grave and is on the Thiepval monument. His brother died two months later buried Carnoy. Her husband died in the UK in the spring of '17. Poor lady.

As for him being in a different company, my kin was originally listed as 1/4 but died in service 1/1

The book itself is a trip, the pages show where the press actually pressed the type into the paper. A relic.

Hope that was of some use, at least you can research what the "birdcage" was

Cheers,

Gordo