DID HE DIE IN VAIN?
O
PRIVATE JOHN PAUL SOUTH AFRICAN INFANTRY 18TH JULY 1916 AGE 36 BURIED: LONDON CEMETERY AND EXTENSION, LONGUEVILLE, FRANCE
AT R EST IN P EAC PRIVAT
E ROBE
Private Paul’s wife asks an unusually direct question: “Did he die in vain?”. Whilst she doesn’t actually assert that he did, the mere raising of the question casts doubt on her belief in the cause for which her husband died.
E
RT AN D ROYA REW LOM BURIED : DANZI 29TH AU L SCOTS AX PURVES GU G ALLE Y BRIT ST 1916 AGE ISH CE 31 METER Y, MAM ETZ, FR ANCE
Paul, serving with the South African Infantry, was killed at Delville Wood. 3,150 men the South African Brigade entered the wood of on 14 July 1916 and when they were finally relieved on the 20 July there were only 750 of them left, the rest were casualties - killed, wounded, missing.
Paul was initially among the missing. It was not until February 1935 that his body was located at map reference 57c.S.18.s .45.90, exhumed and reinterred in London Road Cemetery and Extension, Longueville, where This insc 3,114 of the 3,873 burials are unidentified. rip He was originally one of the unidentified but a statem tion isn’t a was later identified by his requ knife and fork, which ent that were all marked J. Paul, and by his General his son est by Rober Service tunic, kilt and boots. t IS at re “I have st in pe Purves’s father shot mys ac th e. His at kilt? John W Paul, born in Scotland, had emigrated his there is hy do I elf as I to South Africa from where he think so son may rest volunteered to serve with 4th Regiment in their no chance of ge cannot stand th in ? Read the South African Infantry, the South this ... peace but African Scottish. Raised from the Transvaal Scottish come th trouble. Mr C tting home to e hardship & and Cape Town Highlanders, they wore su la kilts things herough this war rkson and Mr see my parents fferings of this safe and who Col lif Goodbye re. sound. lins are two m may God e any longer, an & fin A bl d ny of m ess and e officer R A L Pu good luck y co s pa an m to ls can ha fo rves d everyone ve what I hope they w rt .” ill they wish Quoted of my SC70/8 from Those W /418/2 ho Fell in the G re at War To have Nationa l Archive Purves’s chosen to say s of Scot w land Ref did. Mr parents must hat they did on erence have kn and Mrs th ei r so Record ow of all M Purves entered n what he ha n’s inscription the War – At re embers their so d done. er the Expe with the words of His Majesty n’s death in th But it’s poss st in peace – R , eag ber ib e ob Tall remem Bttn Th ditionary Forc , “joined the ’s Naval and Marquis de R le that no on ert uvigny’s e else Military 9th Bttn e in Fran e Scottis o followin t Bi e e t g”. And h Rifles, and w ce and Flande The Royal Sc Forces who ha ographical c i ho m on thei ir ots 6 Fe rs from ve Falle when bo as kille A fa r A sp ed o ur Robert headstone in th parents wer d in action at 14 July, being b 1916: served n in who was Fric St e w at n e t killed in Martin’s New dead, one of th ourt Wood, M tached to the ith ei 5t the Gre am Bu ig h BATH at War”. rial Ground r daughters incl etz, 29 Aug h t br ERICk us ud in Had N FRED dington, ed these wor t Tha Y ds NT ALLA INFANTR ED 25 “Also th CE SERGEA STRALIAN eir son 1916 AG SOMME, FRAN ST AU U G . 2, AU N 5TH ERY NO DIED O AD CEMET Songs & RO E Harrow ote IN SERR L.C. in ok but a qu d BURIED bo titled, P. ha simply a best-selling 1905, which In em po om a It was never of Friendship ly at school. fr e ot ar qu E. Bowen. a Romance ucial dden cr ne su e a ed th is n makes e Hill, y who di Edward ter in scriptio This in erses, 1886, by ace Vachell’s Th describes a bo schoolboy who few months la able Other V as used in Hor sales. The poemetypal all-round then is killed a ches a memor ber ea w from it al worldwide d is the arch at Lords and Headmaster pr a face to remem en on phenom , Harry Desm w cricket match comes in the es “Tall, eager, s The Hill the Eton-Harro After the new applying the lin so well known. . ted aged catch in h African War es this poem, e lines became He enlis Graves ot ar ustralia. the Sout which he qu This is how th toria, A 1916. The W side the ic in d. V on on d, esm serm Burwoo in February enty years” be ia. And Harry D er from alia “tw tral … ” to t garden ed from Austr father writes onour of Aus ns of the H ia s a marke rk th was 15 and emba h as 25 but hi for the Roll of st to the histor s Captain Ba n lla hi at 19 re A ar 14 July s his age at de on the circul y to be of inte knapsack from on 19 el h’ ha his at lik in de on ils d si of ta is Comm ‘Age at time any other de wo letters foun y”. nc e March question ked if there ar he mentions, “T m for Lieutena ed until ith the discover w when as the regiment commending hi was not uch engraved ed his dy of re bo s or aple AIF 16. His e of tobacco po r F Bath confirm 1929. or at Et by ugust 19 and Maj on 5 A disc and a piec headstone. M ve been dead Pozieres med tity l ha killed at ill had his iden him under a na , who may wel as w th st Ba as it ssible to bury William Bath n he w er, 1929, B, it was po t his fath A initials n; this was no inscriptio
Dillwyn Starr’s His father, wh citizen and tha
Initially he join in France until he joined the A The unit served transferred to th ten days after th first experience
“Have just and only wi one casualty the kind of
On 15 September that we shall brea Guards did captu across No-Man’s-L They reached the parapet, with his f
Dillwyn’s parents r gratitude for what