290511 Sgt William Ikin, 1/7th Bn, Cheshire Rgt

290511 Sergeant William Ikin of the 1/7th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment died on the 19th October 1917.

William's original number - 2324 - indicates that he first joined the 1/7th Cheshires in September 1914. His medal index card shows that he arrived overseas (in the Balkans) on 8th August 1915, and he died in Palestine. He is buried in Deir el Belah War Cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission reports as follows:

"On 28 February 1917, the cavalry of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Turks to withdraw to Gaza and Beersheba. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there. The cemetery was begun towards the end of March and remained in use until March 1919. Most of the burials were made either from field ambulances from March to June 1917, or from the 53rd, 54th, 66th and 74th Casualty Clearing Stations, and the 69th General Hospital, from April 1917 until the Armistice with Turkey. A number of graves, the majority of which were originally at Khan Yunus, were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice. The cemetery contains 724 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also ten war graves of other nationalities."

William was born at Over in Cheshire, was living at Winsford and enlisted at Macclesfield.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission