Chapter XI: After the Armistice

Although fighting was now over, the “War” was not. Working parties and training still continued at LEUZE, whither we marched on the 14th, and on the 25th the “Education Period” commenced. We moved to WATTINE (Chappelle) on the 26th, and on the 2nd December sent an escort, consisting of Captain S. H. Pruden, M.C., and Lieutenant Bulling, Company Sergeant-Major Roberts, and two Sergeants, to England to bring out the Colours, which were handed to them on the 7th in Preston by the Mayor. The same day the Battalion lined the main road on the occasion of the King’s visit to LEUZE.

The Colour Party rejoined us on the 10th, and the Colours paraded with the Battalion for the first time on the 13th. On the 15th we moved to ATH. On the following days we moved to EUGHEHEIM, LEMBECQ, and UCCLE, where we prepared for a long stay in good billets. Second Lieutenant A. Livesey was awarded the Military Cross.

The total casualties for the year 1918 were as follows:--

Killed Wounded Missing Gassed D. of W. W. & M.
Officers 10 31 6 4 1 25
Other Ranks 140 514 101 154 0 595
--- --- --- --- - ---
Totals 150 545 107 158 1 620
Officers 77. Other Ranks 1,504.

The Battalion marched past the King of the Belgians in BRUSSELS.

The total casualties of the Battalion for the whole of the War are set out in the War Diary as follows:--

M. believed
Killed Wounded Missing W. & M. Killed Gassed
Officers 37 95 11 2 2 4
Other Ranks 376 1846 596 10 0 165
--- ---- --- -- - ---
Totals 413 1941 607 12 2 169

Died of Sick
Wounds Dwnd. to F.A.
Officers 4 0 65
Other Ranks 1 1 1496
- - ----
Totals 5 0 1561
Officers 220. Other Ranks 4,301.

Most of those entered as “Missing” were afterwards reported “Killed in Action;” many were reported “Prisoners of War,” and it is a matter of history now these were kept alive by the weekly parcels which reached them from the Prisoners of War Committee in Preston, to which our grateful thanks are due.

The process of demobilisation and disintegration of the Battalion now set in, and our numbers steadily dwindled until nothing but the Cadre was left.

The Cadre returned to Preston on the 12th June, 1919. Only short notice was received, but there was a good turnout of Officers and men who had served with the Battalion, and an entertainment was given by the Corporation.

With this function the War History of the unit comes to an end. Practically all of us are now back in civil life, a few not much the worse for wear, others maimed or with impaired faculties, but 870 Officers and Other Ranks rest in France and Belgium, and to their memory it is hoped to erect a memorial over there.

As the 55th Division Memorial is to be put on GIVENCHY HILL, the scene of the Battalion’s best-known exploit, another site has had to be fixed upon. This has been found on the crest of the ridge on which VAUCELLETTE FARM stood, where the Battalion on 30th November, standing alone, stemmed the advancing tide of Huns. To the Maire of VILLERS GUISLAIN and to M.M. Henri and Leon Nolin, the owners of the ground, we owe the gift of a small square plot by the roadside there, on which to erect a memorial to our comrades.

“These gave up the years to be
Of joy and work, and that unhoped serene
That men call age; and those who would have been
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.”

Although many graves have been marked and identified, there are countless others which never can be; hence the necessity of a single monument to include all.

Those graves which can be identified have been marked with the Divisional Cocarde, a representation (about six inches in diameter) in colour, on enamelled iron, of the 55th Division badge.

APPENDIXES

A.--List of Honours and Distinctions earned by the Battalion.

B.--Casualties.