Friday 31st May 1918

Support positions near Cesuna.

The Battalion War Diary noted the award of the Belgian Croix de Guerre to two men from the Battalion; Sgt. John Thomas Machin (see 4^th December 1917) and L.Cpl. Enoch Wilson Rhodes MM (see 22^nd March). These awards would be formally published in the London Gazette on 12^th July, along with notice of the same award to Cpl. Joseph Dunn (see 5^th April), who had left the Battalion having been wounded on 7^th June 1917 and was currently in England.

Ptes. Herbert Jacklin (see 5^th July 1917) and George Lownsborough (see 30^th October 1917) were admitted to 70^th Field Ambulance suffering from suspected influenza; both would be discharged and return to duty four days later.

Pte. Arthur Thomas Wilford (see 21^st May) was transferred from 38^th Stationery Hospital in Genoa to the Convalescent Depot at Lido d’Albaro, near Genoa; he had been suffering from an abscess to his jaw.

No casualties were recorded for the month; the official cumulative casualty figures since arriving in France in August 1915 thus remained as: 

Killed                                   275

Accidentally killed                5

Died of wounds                   21

Wounded                       1,287

Accidentally wounded       53

Missing                               178

Trooper Claude Darwin (see 4^th April), serving in Egypt with 1^st Field Squadron, Engineers, Anzac Mounted Division, was discharged from hospital in Port Said and posted to a rest camp at Moascar; he had been suffering from malaria. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 2^nd February), who had been discharged from the army.


Having spent eight months in hospital after being severely wounded in September 1917 L.Cpl. Ernest Wilson (28985) (see 29^th September 1917) was discharged from Keighley War Hospital; he was to be discharged from the Army on account of his wounds.

Pte. Robert Sylvester Downey (see 11th February), serving at the Regimental Depot in Halifax, was formally transferred to Army Reserve Class P; this classification of the reserve applied to men “whose services were deemed to be temporarily of more value to the country in civil life rather than in the Army”. He was to resume his previous employment as a driller with Dorman Long & Co. in Middlesbrough. He was also awarded an army pension of 27s. 6d. per week for four weeks, reducing thereafter to 11s. per week and to be reviewed in one year.

The War Office wrote to 2Lt. Billy Oldfield MM (see 25^th May), who had been severely wounded while serving in France with 1^st/4^th DWR and was currently being treated at 2^nd Northern General Hospital, Leeds. They informed him that, as a result of his injuries, he was to be “gazetted as relinquishing his commission on grounds of ill-health”; such notice would appear in the London Gazette on 10^th June. He was also informed that his case would be referred to the Ministry of Pensions.

2Lt. Billy Oldfield MM

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald published further news on the death of Pte. James Tuddenham, known to all as ‘Tudd’ (see 24^th May), who had been killed in action while serving with 1^st/6^th DWR.

“The death in action of Private James Tuddenham, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, son of Mr. Tuddenham, 18 Cemetery Road, Earby, briefly announced in our last week's issue, is the subject of a letter from the O.C., 'A' Company (Lieut. H.E. Lowther) who says:- "He was killed by a shell in the early morning of April 30th and can have suffered no pain whatever. He was buried with two of his comrades, and the grave was marked by a cross made by the men of his own platoon. He was one of our company stretcher bearers who are always men picked specially for their bravery. He always did the job well, however dangerous the circumstances, and always thought of the wounded men he tended before himself. I know how hard it will be for you, but I want you to realise how deeply we feel his loss. 'A' Company will never forget 'Tudd', as he was known to everyone”.

 

Pte. James Tuddenham