The story of Private George Wall who died after Armistice was signed - The Redditch Standard

The story of Private George Wall who died after Armistice was signed

Redditch Editorial 17th Nov, 2018 Updated: 17th Nov, 2018   0

THE guns may have fell silent on the Western Front on November 11, 1918, however the Redditch Standard’s project of marking the 100th anniversary of the death of local soldiers in the First World War, continues, at least for this week.

Private George William Wall died on November 19, 1918, probably from wounds he received in the final days leading up to the Armistice.

There was fierce fighting right up until the signing took place with heavy casualties on both sides.

His unit finished the war at Feignies, north west of Mauberge and quite close to the Belgian border.




George, having been wounded, was evacuated out of the war zone to a hospital close to the channel ports where he died.

Born in 1896 in Headless Cross, he was the youngest of four children, the family living at 170 Evesham Road, Redditch.


He worked as a cycle liner until being recruited into the 7th Battalion, Prince Albert’s Somerset Light Infantry.

He is buried in the St Sever Cemetery Extension, in Rouen, France and is remembered today on the Redditch War Memorial.

George’s passing also serves as a reminder that thousands of soldiers and their families lived on with the consequences of war for many years to come.

We must also pay tribute to the passing of Edgar Badger, a sailor serving with the Royal Marine Light Infantry who was killed on September 2, 1918 but wasn’t buried until a month later on October 1.

Edgar was born in the parish of Feckenham, January 7, 1896 to Albert, a labourer on a farm, and Selina Badger.

Aged five he was living with his parents at ‘Tricks Hole’ probably one of the houses down ‘Trickses Lane’ in Ham Green.

Edgar joined the Royal Navy on April 18, 1917 in Worcester and was drafted into the British Expeditionary Force as part of the Royal Naval Division (RND) and from there into the 10th Battalion Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI) and then the 2nd Battalion RMLI.

He saw action at Passchendaele where the RND suffered 3,126 casualties in the five days they were in the line.

Such were the atrocious conditions that Edgar, was invalided back to the UK with trench foot.

On August 28, 1918 he was re-drafted into the 1st Battalion RMLI which had amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion due to the large number of casualties.

Five days later on September 2 his unit was ordered to attack the village of Inchy-En-Artois to the west of Cambrai.

He was reported ‘missing, presumed dead’, and then later ‘Killed in action or died of wounds’.

He was eventually laid to rest in the nearby Moeuvres Communal cemetery and is remembered today on both the Feckenham War Memorial and the school memorial board.

With thanks to:

Remembering Redditch’s Fallen Heroes, written by Ian Dipple, Philip Jarvis, Thomas Bough, Matthew Scott, Richard Pearce.

The research of Richard Pearce.

www.rememberthefallen.co.uk

www.longlongtrail.co.uk/

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