Sergeant Ernest Harold Long DCM MM was killed in action on 31st May 1918 whilst serving with the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The battalion war diary for the day notes “Heavily shelled. Battalion compelled to withdraw about 11am under heavy barrage”.
30th May 1918
Two men with a local connection died on 30th May 1918. Captain Adie Wale, 186th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, died after the hospital in which he was being treated for wounds was bombed by the Germans on the night of 29th/30th May. Private Henry Walker, 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment died of wounds on the same day.
28th May 1918
Private Samuel Andrews was killed on 28th May 1918 whilst serving with the 8th Battalion Machine Gun Corps. Born in Sutton Coldfield in 1887, Samuel was the third of the eight children (six sons, two daughters) of parents James (a coachman) and Maria (née Marshall).
27th May 1918
Three local men died on 27th May 1918 whilst on active service.
- Private Edward George Cakebread, 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
- Private Henry George Knight, 22nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
- Private Frank Victor Perks, 5th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment
All three have no known grave and are commemorated on the Soissons Memorial, France.
25th May 1918
Lieutenant Raymond Tenney Balch, 74 Training Squadron, Royal Air Force, died in a flying accident at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield on 25th May 1918.
24th May 1918
Private George Henry Vince, Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, died of pneumonia at Cork Street Hospital, Dublin on 24th May 1918, aged 19. Born in Waterloo, Lancashire in 1898, he was the only child of parents Joseph (a commercial traveller) and Edith (née Stent) who had married in the Kings Norton district in 1897.
22nd May 1918
Lieutenant Percy Charles Moynihan, 54 Training Squadron, Royal Air Force, was killed in a flying accident at 3:15pm on 22nd May 1918, when his aeroplane collided with a tree on take off from Castle Bromwich.
20th May 1918
25-year-old Corporal William Reginald Finley, 1st Life Guards, died of wounds on 20th May 1918 after being injured by an aerial bomb some days before. Born in Bentley Heath, Solihull in 1892, he was the only son of parents William Robert and Elizabeth (née Ravenhill) who had married in Aston in 1889. The couple also had four daughters.
18th May 1918
Gunner Ralph George Baker, 309 Siege Battery, Honourable Artillery Company, died of pneumonia on 18th May 1918 in a German Hospital as a Prisoner of War. He was born in Handsworth on 12th July 1898, and was the second of the three sons of Charles (a jeweller) and Amelia (known as Minne) (née Deakin).
15th May 1918
Acting 2nd Corporal James William Alfred Borley died of wounds on 15th May 1918 at the 17th Casualty Clearing Station, whilst serving with the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers. He was 25 years old, and had been born in Hampton-in-Arden in 1892.
Solihull Life 