Alfred George HEWITT - Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

[Lainys]

Hello,

My GGU Alfred George Hewitt G19387 served in the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).  I believe he was in the 28th Battalion.  He died on 27 Sep 1918 in Arras, France.

Can anyone tell me which battle he was fighting in when he died please?

Thank you.

Lainy

[MaxD]

War diary:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60779/43112_1552_0-00000?backurl=https%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d60779%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=43112_1555_0-00487

The Battle of Epehy, part of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line in the 100 days allied offensive that ended the war/

The CWGC spell his name Hewett.


MaxD

[Lainys]

Hi Max,

Thank you for once again taking the time to find out about my Great Uncle Alfred.

Alfred wounded and died in Casulty Clearing Station France.

Lainy

[MaxD]

The action on the day he was wounded took place to the west of Gouzeaucourt against the portion of the line that runs (see link) from the wiggle square in the bottom right quadrant of square 23 at the top of the map, down southwards to the bottom left quadrant of square 29 and then on to square 35.  There are references in the diary to African Trench which can be seen (zoom in) in square 35.

Alfred George's service record is on Ancestry.  He had served in UK from November 1916 until posting to France in June 1918 via 6th Royal West Kents to 1st RWK which is where he was serving when he died.  However, his record shows he was wounded in the neck in the action and died later in 49 Casualty Clearing Station  which was at Grevillers, about 16 miles to the west of Gouzeaucourt, hence his grave in the cemetery there.  You know this OK, just seen your post

He had been awarded a Divisional parchment certificate for gallantry just a month before. This was just a step below a state gallantry award.  More on this in a moment. 

MaxD

[MaxD]

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nhs/ is the account from the brigade diary of the 1 RWK 28 Jun action in which he and others distinguished themselves.  As is unfortunately normal, not all the individual soldiers are named.

MaxD

[Lainys]

Hi Max,

Thank you for taking the time to research Alfred for me. A family member told me that he was wounded in the neck and died in the Casualty Clearing unit, everything else you kindly shared is new information to me.

To find that he was awarded a certificate for gallantry at such a young age is amazing.  Can I obtain a copy of the certificate?

Kindest regards,

Lainy

[MaxD]

The certificates were produced within his division and not on an army-wide basis, there is no central record of them and his would have been either sent by him to the family or returned to the family with his effects or lost.  He had been back at the front* for 5 days total and joined his battalion on 24 June which makes it all the more remarkable that after 4 days he made such a mark in action.

*I had missed the fact that he had had an earlier stint in France with 8th Battalion RWK from May 1917 to December 1917 and had been sent home with trench foot, returning to France to 1st RWK in Jun 1918.
 
I have replied to your kind PM.


MaxD

[Lainys]

Hi Max,

Thanks for clarifying about the certificates for me. Indeed he did make a mark and not just in a short time but at his young age.

Thanks for letting me know about his previous stint.

Regards,

Lainy