John YEATMAN was born in Ebrington, Glos in 1883, the second son of Matthew and Eliza. He remained in England when the family emigrated to Canada in 1910 as he had first enlisted in the Army in 1904 but had reverted to the reserves of the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1911. Between 1911 and 1914 he lived in Worcester and was employed on the Great Western Railway. As a reservist he was immediately recalled to duty and re-enlisted as a corporal in the 1st Battalion of the 'Glosters', number 7287. He served in France from 13th August 1914 and also Belgium, fighting on the Somme at High Wood, where our men were at times subjected to twenty-six hours of continuous barrage and gained a promotion to sergeant. He was killed in this action by shellfire on 22nd August 1916, aged 33 years. The War Diaries catalogue the battle that the men were subjected to and on that day that John was killed recorded:
'Heavy shelling. An intense bombardment was commenced at 1.00am. B Company relieved C Company at 6.30am. Shelling was consistent during the day. At times intense. Major H.E. de R. WETHERALL wounded, 3 other ranks killed and 23 wounded'.
Like John, many of those who died at, or near, High Wood have no known grave and up to 8,000 remains are still buried beneath the battlefield. John's name is listed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Pier 5, Faces A-B. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, this is the largest British was memorial in the world. The medals he earned were the Victory Medal, British War Medal and the 1914 Star with dated clasp; this trio were sarcastically nicknamed 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred', after three newspaper cartoon characters, by those who thought them unworthy of the service they represented.
Memorials: The War Memorial and the Book of Remembrance at St Eadburgha Church, Ebrington.
L'est we forget
