Ernest William Ward

A Private with the 2nd Battalion, Ernest died on 9th of October 1918 aged 18. 

Ernest was born at Rushmere in 1899, a son of William and Martha Ward. In 1901 his family lived at Rectory Cottages, Rushmere. By 1911 they were living at 424 London Road South.

Ernest enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Training Reserve, number TR/9/11987. He was transferred to the Suffolk Regiment, service number 42520, and posted to France to join the 2nd Battalion. 

On 8 October 1918 the 2nd Battalion were involved in an attack near Rumilly. In the attack the battalion lost ten men killed, 119 wounded, 14 missing, and two gassed. It would appear that Ernest was one of the men wounded on 8 October. He was one of ten men buried at map reference 57c.G.32.a.10.90. and his grave was marked with a cross. Several of the men that were buried with Ernest were from the New Zealand Army and by checking their records it is clear that they all died of wounds at an Advanced Dressing Station of the 1st New Zealand Field Ambulance. The fact that some sources state that Ernest died of wounds, and that Private Harrod, of Ernest’s battalion, also died of wounds, and that they were buried with the New Zealand soldiers suggests that Ernest also died from his wounds at the Advanced Dressing Station. 

Ernest, and the other nine men, were all reburied at Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery after the war.  

Ernest’s brother served with the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) and died in 1917.