During 'Over There' at U3A late last week we watched a documentary on the Great War titled 'Hell', What a truly pointless war, with the loss of so many young lives. I began thinking of my grandfather James Lee and of a young 'second cousin 1x removed' killed in action in France. My great grandmother Emma Jane Taylor's nephew Charles Taylor's son, Lieutenant Albert Laurence Deane Taylor, a young Flying Officer/Observer in No 3 Squadron was killed in action in France over the Somme. I had discovered Albert during my earlier work on family history. Triggered by a hint via an ancestry email about him which referenced a new 'Find A Grave' record, I followed this up and added it to my records, finding as I did so that the 100th year anniversary of his death falls on the 20th May 2018 - 100 years ago today as I write this post. "Lieutenant Albert Lawrence Deane Taylor BIRTH unknown DEATH 20 May 1918 BURIALVignacourt British Cemetery Vignacourt, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France PLOTII. B. 16. MEMORIAL ID56434374 · Gravesite Details Lieutenant, 3rd Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. Killed in action. Son of Charles and Elizabeth Taylor, of 4 Ferguson St., Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. Native of Williamstown, Victoria. Age 21". On the base of the photo of Albert's headstone is written 'Per Ardua ad Astra', the motto of the RAF and other Commonwealth Air Forces such as the RAAf. It can be translated as 'through adversity to the stars' or 'through difficulties to the stars'. Albert's War Service record is digitized and in the Australian War Memorial's records: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1927412 (hopefully this will open directly). Lieutenant A. L. D. Taylor is mentioned in Chapter XIX 'No. 3 Squadron's Operations over the Somme' of First World War Official Histories - Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918 (11th edition, 1941) on page 261 (https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1069820/document/5519299.PDF) More from Find a Grave... "Vignacourt is a village in the Department of the Somme on the west of the D933 road from Amiens to Doullens. From the D933 take the D113 from Flesselles and 5 kilometres along this road the Cemetery will be found at the entrance of the village. When the German advance began in March 1918, Vignacourt was occupied by the 20th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations. It also became a headquarters of Royal Air Force squadrons. The cemetery was begun in April and closed in August, and the burials reflect the desperate fighting of the Australian forces on the Amiens front. Six burials made in the communal cemetery between October 1915 and March 1918 were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice. Vignacourt British Cemetery contains 584 First World War burials. There are also two burials from the Second World War. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. The cemetery also contains a monument erected by the village in honour of the Commonwealth dead, unveiled in August 1921. It is a statue of a French soldier, on the base of which are engraved the words: "Freres D'armes de L'Armee Britannique, tombes au Champ D'Honneur, dormez en paix. Nous veillons sur vous." ("Brothers in arms of the British Army, fallen on the field of honour, sleep in peace; we are watching over you.")" Williamstown Chronicle, Saturday 24th May, 1919 (via Trove).
The bravery of my grandfather, James Joseph Lee, was officially recognised through a Mention in Despatches for 'valuable services rendered in connection with the war' in France in March 1918 and in northern France near the border with Belgium in August and September 1918. An officer working in Signals training in England from early 1916 to late 1917, James was transferred to active duty in France in November 1917. This year I'm planning to follow James's service record as a centenary of the First World War - I'd better get moving though as it will soon be March. I need to determine whether the Mention in Despatches relates to the same battles as the Belgian Croix de Guerre, or earlier incidents in France, or perhaps recognition for his work in the 'depots'. My brother John thinks that it is almost certainly the former, but I'm uncertain. I need to check out his service record carefully to see where he was in March 1918; to locate Proyart and Hesbecourt; and more!
Later (25/2): It seems that both Proyart and Hesbecourt are in the North of France near the border with Belgium; so the battles referred to fall within the Western Front/ 'France and Flanders' category. I've started to try to track the timeline for James Lee moving into active duty with the 2nd Battalion, and things are starting to make sense. On November 1, 1917, facing a manpower crisis, it was decided to combine five divisions to form one, the Australian Corps. James was recommissioned (word) from his roles at Perham Downs to the 2nd Battalion within this umbrella in mid November 2017. The 2nd Battalion was involved in significant battles in March and again in the 'Hundred Days Offensive' period under the command of Sir John Monash in August/September 1918. It is possible that James' 'Mention in Despatches' on March 13 2018 relates to either his service at Perham Downs or to battles in France March 1918, and is separate from his later recommendation for operations on 28 August and 16 September for the Belgian Croix de Guerre. (Need to tighten this up!) |
The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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