by TMN » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:25 pm
Thankyou everyone for the replies, which answer so many questions, but also raise so many more!
Louis,
Thankyou for taking the time to type all of that out, which makes a sad but fascinating read.
We never knew that he had been in France since 1914. With the life expectancy of troops during the war, we had expected to find out that he had not been there long, so that came as a bit of a shock!
From the basic research we have done we suspected that might have been the battle where he was wounded, and your comments add strength to that.
If he was injured there, but buried at Etaples (where we know there were a number of hospitals) would you have any idea how long it would have taken to move the injured to the hospitals? Assuming he was being taken there, we are just trying to get some idea of timeline, and (I know we'll very likely never know) try and work out if he did make it to Etaples, or died beforehand.
Mike Jones,
Thankyou for the information regarding his Regimental Number and his company, which when reading what Louis has said gives us a better insight into his last few days.
Going back to earlier in the war, if he had been wounded before 1917 we would be grateful of any information that could be found surrounding this, and his 'movements' between 1914 and 1917.
We had started to wonder if the name on the Worcester Cathedral 2nd & 3rd Battalion Nominal Roll (1914) of J.Naylor was actually him or not. I had been told since a child that it was him (even though it was down as J.Naylor and not JW Naylor, but since we started researching doubts were creeping in. From what you say then there is a very good chance it is him then?
Corona,
May I ask your source for this information please?
This is something no-one in the family has ever mentioned before, so as well as being a complete surprise we are now starting to wonder what the circumstances were.
The two Regimental Numbers do not seem to be very far apart, even though there are twelve years between his first and second enlistments - is this normal or what could have lead to this?
John(txic),
I have seen his name on the Great War Memorial at the Town Hall buildings, albeit through the seemingly always closed railings!
He is also on the Memorial at St Johns church, Kates Hill, Dudley, but due to the theft of the plates some years ago from the lych gate, the replacements were put up inside the, now sadly closed, church. I hope one day to be able to get permission to get inside the church (which has many many family links) and photograph the plates.
Again, thankyou all for your quick responses and information, and we apologise for asking even more questions!
TMN