Other Information:John enlisted on 9th October 1915. He was 38 years and 262 days old; was a Labourer by trade; and was living at 6 Lindfield Cottages, Ospringe, Faversham, Kent at the time. He was posted to "T" Coy on the 14th, and was then transferred to serve with the 133rd Field Ambulance on the 28th. On 5th March 1916, he embarked at Southampton, then disembarking at Havre the next day he entered the war in France on 6th March 1916. John was admitted into his unit on the 3rd July suffering with Nephlalgia and returned to duty three days later on the 6th. On the 3rd September, 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. John was one of the 7 killed. He was the husband of Emily Elizabeth Brunger of 46 St. Martin's Hill, Dover.
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