Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Date Name Information
21/02/2016 Reg SM Joy Davis The date on the family gravestone in Dungannon is 27 August 1920, which seems to be incorrect.
21/02/2016 Reg SM Joy Davis 01441
21/02/2016 Reg SM Joy Davis Sergeant-Major Davis was interred in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, Australia. According to recently discovered records, he was buried in Ind. Section H, Grave No 1949.
21/02/2016 Reg SM Joy Davis Thanks to some fantastic work by Phillip Tardif, Joy Davis's details have been added to the CWGC and his name has been inscribed on the Sydney Memorial in Rookwood Cemetery. Philip maintains the website www.northirishhorse.com.au, and has recently published a book, The North Irish Horse in the Great War.
20/02/2016 Pte. Robert George Lawson Lance Corporal Thomas Lawson, 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, a young Dungannon soldier, has written to his brother, Sapper Joseph Lawson, Royal Engineers, Antrim, stating that he was shot in the stomach on 26th April during the advance in the Gallipoli peninsula, and is now in the Kaarel-Ainy Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. He is now recovering.
20/02/2016 Pte. Robert George Lawson 01440
20/02/2016 Pte. Robert George Lawson From the Belfast Newsletter dated 11th May 1915: Thomas Lawson (Brother of George Lawson)
20/02/2016 Capt William Henry David Bennett Our battalion of the Canadians went into the trenches on Wednesday night, 21st April, relieving the first battalion, who had taken them over from a French regiment a few days previously. These trenches were in poor condition, and we at once got to work to get them made a little safer. Eighty yards separated us from the German trenches, and the intervening space was strewn with German dead. At dawn we knocked off, and stood to arms. Throughout the day everything was quiet , but at 5pm we were subject to a terrible bombardment, which continued without cessation for several hours. Fortunately the failed to hit the section of trench held by my platoon, and at 8pm not a man had been wounded; but just when it became dark the evil news filtered through. Groups of Turcos filed through our lines on their way to the rear, and the news soon spread that they had to retire as they had been submitted to heavy shell fire and that sulphuric bombs had been used. We knew we were in for a hot time because at that particular point the line formation resembled a giant horseshoe, so that when the Germans poured through the breach they were right behind us. So fierce was the shell fire that we did not expect reinforcements, and we knew we were expected to hang on and we did it. The news that came through was anything but encouraging. Major Norsworthy, the finest officer in our battalion, had been killed; four of our guns had been captured; sulphuric bombs were been used; and still we hung on � there was nothing else to do. Our left had been swung back a little to prevent the enemy front coming from behind, and at a bout 5am this portion of the line was reinforced by one company of the Buffs, who reached our trenches by a circuitous route. All day on Friday we held on, although the bombardment was much fiercer than on the previous day. Men were being wounded all around, and barbed wire entanglements and parapets were blown up in the air. Slowly, we waited for their infantry to attack; in fact we hoped for it, as fighting at close quarters would have been more in our line. Still the attack was never made, and at nightfall we carried out our wounded. Then we received orders to retire our left flank even further, which necessitated the digging of new trenches, and we commenced work about 11pm. We had finished just as dawn was breaking, and immediately the shelling commenced. Our trench was now at right angles to the German lines � i.e. their first position, but there were many more on our front. We were enfiladed by shell fire, and at 7am our trench was practically blown to pieces. Then what was left of us was ordered to retire on the Second Brigade, and I got shot in the left thigh.
20/02/2016 Capt William Henry David Bennett Sergeant W H Bennett, of the Royal Highlanders of Canada, son of ex-Sergeant Bennett, R.I.C., formerly of Glasslough, County Monaghan, and now residing at Primrose Hill, Dungannon, is in hospital in Cardiff, suffering from a rifle wound received near Ypres on 23rd April. Writing to his father her states:-
20/02/2016 Capt William Henry David Bennett 01439
20/02/2016 Capt William Henry David Bennett From the Belfast Newsletter dated 11th May 1915: The Canadians Stand at Presy � Description by a Dungannon Man
08/02/2016 Trooper William John Turkington 01438
08/02/2016 Trooper William John Turkington Commemorated on family grave in Drumcoo Cemetery in Dungannon.
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