Other Information:Herbert enlisted on 14th October 1915. He was 23 years and 10 months old; was a Compositor by trade; and was living at 22 Church Street, Southwold, Suffolk at the time. He joined at Colchester and was posted to "T" Coy on the 19th. Herbert embarked at Southampton on 6th March 1916, then disembarking at Havre the next day he entered the war in France on 7th March 1916. On 3rd September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, the 39th Division became involved in the Fighting on the Ancre. The A.D.M.S. wrote “The position occupied by our troops was one from which it was most difficult to evacuate owing to the ground being exposed and the line of evacuation a lengthy one. The entrenchments were dominated on three sides, the Aid Posts small and inadequate and exposed to shell and machine-gun fire. Added to this I am informed by officers commanding bearers and others that enemy snipers were most active, picking off our bearers when collecting, and wounding again the patients being carried on stretchers. Super-added to which were weather conditions which turned the frontal surroundings, roads and pathways into a boggy state.” The R.A.M.C. casualties were 7 O.R’s killed and 5 officers and 76 O.R’s wounded. Herbert was one of the 7 killed.
He was the son of Edmond and Rose Stedman of 22 Church Street, Southwold, Suffolk.
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