18th August 1916

As the Somme battle ground relentlessly on, over 1800 British Army officers and men would die on this day alone. Of these, 13 men were from my local regiment, The Essex Regiment. They were: 

21000 Private Stanley Arthur Brooks
26933 Private Herbert William Cornell
26913 Private James Ewers
27390 Private James Daniel Finch
27355 Private Frederick Foster
18743 Private Frederick Herbert Gibbs
24643 Lance Corporal Harry Hammond
26839 Private Douglas Roy Michell
27367 Private Oliver Mothersele
26594 Private Robert Livingstone Mckenzie
Second Lieutenant Arthur James Balfour Pearson
26182 Private John Edgar Radley
20147 Private Walter Tonge

Stanley Brooks (from Southend-on-Sea) and Frederick Gibbs (from Bow) were both serving with the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment in Belgium when they were killed in action. They are buried next to each other in the Potijze Burial Ground Cemetery.

Second Lieutenant Arthur Pearson was serving with a Territorial Force battalion, the 5th Battalion, when, he was killed in action at the age of 21.

All of the other men who died this day were serving with the 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment. Six of these men have no known graves are commemorated on the Thiepval memorial (pictured above, courtesy of Wikipedia).

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