KILLED: Lance Corporal Harvey Alston,
1st 5th Bn Lancashire Fusilier, was shot in the back during a bayonet
charge on Turkish positions at Gallipoli. He was in his early 30s, lived
in Starkey street, and worked at the Sun Iron works. He had a wife and
child and enlisted as a professional soldier in 1910. His brother-in-law,
Corporal James Babut, who also took part in the attack, wrote: "We
got to the enemy trenches, but were driven out again. Harvey had to
be left with many more wounded."
KILLED: L/Cpl Samuel Aspinall,
aged 35, of Union Street, had only enlisted in the 1st 8th Bn Lancashire
Fusiliers three months before his death. He was killed leaving the trenches
to come home on Christmas leave. The Heap Bridge paper mill worker had
told his wife and three children in a letter her would arrive at the
Summit from Bury at 8pm. They waited in vain for him until 10pm that
night. He never came home
.
ILL: Pte William Fitton,
of the Lancashire Fusiliers, who wrote home from Gallipoli while recuperating
from a slight bayonet injury and bronchitis. He told a harrowing tale,
as one of three snipers who fired into bushes and killed a Turkish woman.
As they looked more closely at her they found her to be camouflaged
in green and had 43 British army identification discs around her neck
- trophies of soldiers she had killed.
KILLED: Pte Ernest Goodhall
1st 5th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers had been wounded at Gallipoli
and wrote home saying he was resting after six weeks in the fighting
zone. He was killed in action at 10am on 12 July and died within five
minutes of being hit while being offered a drink from Pte Devonshire,
of Gregge Street. He was buried alongside Pte George Noble, of Walton
street.
SURVIVOR: Pte J C Jolden,
a Lancashire Fusilier, of Buxton Street, wrote home: "It's a miracle
I am still alive. A bullet went through my haversack, toothbrush, razor
and mirror and stuck in a pack of 20 rounds of ammunition, sticking
in five rounds and twisting them. They luckily didn't go off."
WOUNDED: Pte S Mills
was shot in the back on a mission in the Dardanelles. He wrote to his
Middleton Road Post Office home from the Cairo hospital where he was
recovering: "It was a hell-hole, with bodies all over. It took
me 30 hours to work my way back to the trenches."
WOUNDED: Pte Walter Reeve,
a Lancashire Fusilier, of Manchester Road, was struck by shrapnel as
he was at the top of a cliff in the Dardanelles. He fell 200ft to the
sea below, but survived and was recovered by boat. He was taken to a
Cairo hospital. He had two serving brothers, Sgt Herbert Reeve of the
Royal Field Artillery, who was wounded in action, and Yeoman of Signals
George Edward Reeve of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, who
was drowned when HMS Hampshire was sunk en route to Russia with Kitchener
on baord in June 1916
.
1916
DIED OF WOUNDS: Company Sergeant Major Thomas Bleackley,
9th Bn Lancashire Fusilier, had been mentioned in dispatches earlier
that year and was the holder of the DCM for gallantry at Sulva Bay the
previous year after leading his men ashore under heavy fire after two
officers had been killed. He organised the platoon, leading them into
the attack. He died of severe wounds at a French hospital, received
in another action. His widow, of Heap Bridge, was presented with his
medal.
This medal is in museum he is Lisa Stansfields
Great Granddad and is already on site on
https://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/gallerynew/9thBn1914_18/9thBn1914_18.htm
DIED: Sgt John Robert Carruthers,
9th Bn Lancashire Fusilier of Taylors Buildings, did not survive typhus
contracted while a prisoner of the Turks. Letters home said he had been
wounded in three places and had been captured and held in four or five
prison camps before his death. An experienced soldier, he had left the
army before the war, but re-enlisted in September 1914 to fight for
the King's Shilling.
INVALIDED HOME: Corp John Clare
, a Lancashire Fusilier, came back to his Rochdale Road, Captain Fold
home, via hospital, after being hurt at Gallipoli. He wrote from there:
"I was lucky to escape death when a bullet passed through my helmet
and grazed the top of my head. We went over the top in a bayonet charge
on Sunday August 7th. The bullets were like hailstones. Many men fell
as soon as they topped the parapet. They were like heroes. The Turks
met us hand to hand. It was absolute murder. Not many survived or returned."
DIED OF WOUNDS: Lt John Ernest Hartington,
5th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers att to 164 Coy Machine Gun Companywas the
first Heywood manto be awarded the Military Cross, on 16 November 1916.
He had shown gallantry in the field by continuously passing through
enemy bombardments to supervise the efficient working of field guns.
He was decorated by the King at Buckingham Palace the week before his
death, from wounds of the abdomen. He was 21 years old and had lived
in Highfield House, Manchester Road, Hopwood.
MEDAL: Sgt J Ridings,
2nd 7th Bn Lancashire Fusilier, was awarded the Military Medal for dangerous
patrol work. The enemy was on the opposite side of the canal at Nieuport
in Belgium and Ridings was asked to swim 150 metres across to obtain
detailed information on the enemy's position, which he succeeded in
doing. The william Street man was later awarded the French Croix de
Guerre and was also recommended for a Russian honour.
MEDAL: Corp Edgar Warrington
, a Lancashire Fusilier of St James' Street, was awarded the DCM for
action in France on 1 July 1917. He carried messages under shell fire
for three days. The trenches were waist deep in mud and shell holes
full of water, making it necessary to stay at ground level. He was also
awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Russian Garter of St George.
MEDAL: Pte Norman Turner,
2nd 5th Bn Lancashire Fusilier of Wild Street, was awarded the DCM
for bravery during a bombing raid in April 1918. He was a member of
a storming party and was involved in hand to hand bombing for six hours.
He climbed onto an enemy parapet while under heavy machine gun and rifle
fire and drove back the enemy enabling the rest of his party to advance.
Though wounded, hecontinued to bring messages and refused to leave his
officer who was also wounded, holding the advancing enemy for some time
alone.
WOUNDED: Pte George Unsworth,
a Lancashire Fusilier, of Melton Street, was wounded twice in
the leg and once in the arm on the first day of the Battle of the Somme
on 1 July 1916. The following year he was wounded in the face, and was
in hospital in November 1918 for his fifth war wound, this time to the
arm just before the Armistice. He was discharged time expired ... and
re-enlisted a week later.