The Menin Gate

The Memorial in Ypres, dedicated to the memory of 54,332 men who gave their lives on the Ypres Salient before August 17^th 1917. The memorial was completed in 1927 and every night at 8pm The Last Post is sounded by the men of the Local Volunteer Fire Brigade.

On Monday 3^rd April I had the honour of laying a wreath on behalf of NLS dedicated to the eighty-three boys who gave their lives in two World Wars so that we may live ours.

       

Two of the boys from NLS are commemorated on the Menin Gate.
Private Gordon Joseph Jacka (d. 10^th August 1917)                           Second Lieutenant Charles John Land (d. 31^st July 1917)

              

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium

 

Lance Corporal William Young Gardner (d. 10^th September 1917) & Second Lieutenant Percival Thistlewood (d. 25^th August 1917) (Percival’s brother, Frank, is commemorated at Thiepval.)

    

Tyne Cot

The largest cemetery for Commonwealth Forces in the world, with 11,954 graves, of which 8369 are unknown. The memorial panels display the names of 34991 soldiers who gave their lives from August 16^th 1917.
One of the boys from NLS is commemorated at Tyne Cot.
Private Frank Grosvenor Rainbow (d. 27^th October 1917).  (Frank’s brother, Albert, is commemorated at Thiepval.)

  

Dadizeele New British Cemetery, Belgium

Private Reginald Saville Gamble (d. 15^th October 1918)

Essex Farm Cemetery Ypres

Sapper Herbert John Boote (d. 25^th July 1916)

This cemetery is also the final resting place of Rifleman Valentine Strudwick. At 15 years of age, he is one of the youngest boys to be buried on the Western Front.

Also of note, Essex Farm Cemetery is within the John McCrae Memorial site. John McCrae wrote the poem In Flander’s Fields.

Ypres Reservoir Cemetery

Second Lieutenant Clarence John Lovell (d. 19^th October 1917)

Le Touret Memorial France

Private Ernest Cashmore (d. 16^th May 1915)

La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy, France

Private Arthur Edwin Richard Maycock (d. 22^nd April 1917)

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme

72337 soldiers are commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial.

There are nine boys from NLS on its panels.

  

                                                    

                      

Private Cyril Blackham (d. 26^th July 1916)                                          Lance Corporal Edward Stanley Curwen (d. 1^st July 1916) 

      

ieutenant George William Doogan (d. 21^st October 1916                   Captain Charles William Eltham (d. 3^rd November 1916

 

      

Private Herbert Lionel Johnson (d. 17^th September 1916)          Private Robert Joseph Newcombe (d. 23^rd July 1916)

                      

Second Lieutenant Albert Edward Rainbow (d. 23^rd July 1916)       Corporal Frank Thistlewood (d. 3^rd September 1916)

Private John Prior (d. 7^th October 1916)

Arras Memorial France

Private Albert Edward Farmer (d. 25^th June 1917)

                                                          

(Albert’s brother, Henry, is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, England.)      Private Herbert James Gaskin (JH) (d. 27^th March 1918)

Tilloy British Cemetery France

Corporal Paul Jackson (d. 11^th April 1917)

Whitnash Road cemetery, Leamington

     

Private H Clulee (d. 13^th May 1919)                       Private Albert Richmond Harrison (d. 20^th April 1919)

Air Mechanic Frank Stephen Blunt (d. 1^st July 1918)  I was unable to locate Frank’s headstone on my visit.

 The Boys I was unable to visit  

• HH Bailey – Commemorated in Bristol
• Lance Corporal Alfred Cuthbert Bishop – Commemorated in Italy
• AV Church – Commemorated in Egypt
• Private Edward James Colbourne – Buried in Turkey
• Boy First Class Henry Gordon Farmer – Commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial
• Private Edward William Green – Buried Mont Huon Military Cemetery, near Dieppe
• E Hunt – Commemorated in Italy
• Private Frederick Stubbs Jackson – Buried in Bagshot
• Ernest Thomas Jones, Royal Navy – Commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial
• Bernard George Lee – Buried in ROYE New British Cemetery, France
• Arthur Alic Mason, Royal Navy – Commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial
• Major Harold Walter Gooch Meyer-Griffith – Commemorated in Sierra Leone
• Lance Corporal George Ernest Orton – Buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, France
• Second Lieutenant Roland Barret Poole – Commemorated in Greece
• Private E Sanderson – Commemorated on the Doiran Memorial, Greece
• Second Lieutenant Leon Owen Sharp – Commemorated at Moreton-in-Marsh, Royal Leamington Spa and Warwick School
• Private Frederick Norman Tarrant - Buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, France