Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

8 August - 17 August 1918. This was the battle that turned the tide of the German advance and started the Allied advances that were to culminate in the Armistice three months later. The impact of the defeat at Amiens on German morale cannot be overstated ? they had done all they could yet still the allies, particularly with US troops starting to be deployed to effect, had absorbed everything and were still capable of attacking and beating them.

Detail :

Source; History of the 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion- Gould, McLeod Says he was an original of the 102nd and was promoted from O.R.S 24/12/1916. Assistant Adjudant. 2nd I/C D Coy. Promoted to Captain 27/6/1919.Lists next of kin as Mrs R L Lloyd, Pentypark, Clarbeston Rd, Pembrokeshire, Wales It was not until 4:30 a.m. on the 7th that we eventually reached the Chateau in Boves Wood which was our halting-place; there were no billets, but the ground was soft, if wet, and there was abundance of undergrowth with which to make comfortable bedding; our orders were to lie well hidden, and we were well content to do so. The undergrowth was so dense and the overhead cover so luxuriant that it was easy to understand that the wood sheltered the numbers above mentioned. What would not the Hun have given to know that well within his artillery range so formidable a force was already massed to give him the first of those deadly blows which were to result in three months in the signing of the Armistice! During the course of the day a meeting of all Officers and N.C.O.'s in charge of Sections was held and every detail of the next day's offensive was elaborately explained and every position in our own area of operations carefully pointed out on the map. By 10.00 p.m., when the Battalion fell in for the last time before the battle began, every man had a clear and distinct idea of what his own particular job would be and of what part we were playing in the general scheme of operations. And so, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Lister, we marched off in the gathering dusk through Boves town and across the Luce River to take up our position in the First Assembly Point behind Gentelles Wood. This wood, standing on the top of an eminence, acted as an excellent screen, and here all the Brigade units assembled by midnight and settled down to take what rest was possible before the barrage started at 4.20 a.m. on the 8th. It was a cold night and the ground was wet with dew, consequently the issue of rum which was served out at dawn was doubly welcome. It may here be stated that during the whole of our stay with the Fourth Army under General Rawlinson, to which the Corps was attached for this offensive, our creature comforts were better looked after than in any other Army, and during our service in France we had experience of all save the Fifth. At 4.20 a.m. to the dot a terrific barrage opened, eclipsing anything we had yet heard; this same expression will be found in accounts of the succeeding battles up to the time of the Armistice, as the Allies increased the ferocity of their opening barrages with each successive push. Ahead of us was the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Division, through whom we were to pass at a later stage, and with the opening of the barrage they moved forward to the attack. There was a white mist hanging low which was greatly in favour of the attacking forces, but as the sun came up this quickly disappeared. An hour later it was our turn to move forward in closer support. Our way led through fields of ripening corn, past innumerable batteries of every calibre, across the swamps of the Luce, through orchards and then along the side of the Amiens-Roye Road, where we saw the firstfruits of the battle in the shape of large bodies of Hun prisoners being marched to the rear, and a number of our own walking wounded. The latter seemed to be intoxicated with success; the Hun had been caught entirely by surprise; if he had thought of the Canadians at all he had thought of them as preparing an offensive up north. He certainly had the surprise of his life on August 8th. Our second Assembly Point was reached at 9.30 a.m., and here we received orders to halt until 12.10 p.m., when we moved forward again in Artillery formation in lines of platoons to our Jumping-off place, where our own share in the attack was to commence. Up to this point we sustained no casualties. Connecting on the right with the 54th and on the left with the 78th, we now passed through the 7th Brigade and plunged forward. Our first objective was a sunken road, which was taken by B and D Coys, without serious difficulty by 3.00^ p.m. The second was a more serious matter, being the forward edge of Beaucourt Wood in our front. A and C Coys, now passed through the other two and pressed on, but encountered very severe opposition, consisting of heavy machine gun fire from the wood on our immediate front, machine gun fire from a wood on our left flank, which was exposed owing to the 78th having fallen behind our advance, and long-distance machine gun and trench mortar fire from the right flank of Beaucourt Wood; this flank was to have been protected by two tanks attached for that purpose, but they had been unable to keep up with our rapid advance, and it was not until two tanks attached to the 54th had come round to our assistance that A Coy., on the right, was able to make further progress, which it did by section rushes and then, when within fifty yards of the woods, charging and capturing the place by storm. In this operation we were greatly helped by the 54th on the right, who outflanked the wood and diverted much of the enemy's fire. After gaining the edge of the wood there was still hard work ahead of A Coy., as the ends of the wood were very strongly held; D Coy. was consequently brought up as reinforcement and the wood was eventually cleared, but on reaching the forward edge our men again came under very heavy machine gun fire, this time from a trench lying in the open on the brow of the opposite hill and from another sunken road. At this juncture two whippet tanks gave us great assistance, enabling us to engage the enemy hand-to-hand, when we inflicted further heavy casualties and captured from 50 to 60 prisoners, though being subjected all the time to machine gun and trench mortar fire from still another wood. In the meantime C Coy. on the left had been encountering very strong opposition from a system of trenches held by the enemy in force; the 78th was still behind the line of advance, its nearest unit to us being one platoon which had lost its Battalion and was following us up about 400 yards distant; consequently C Coy. had to overcome this opposition without assistance, which was not as originally laid down in the programme. The feat was done, however, with several resultant prisoners, and thereafter the opposition manifestly weakened, the enemy retiring in some disorder to other trenches in the open, from which he was successively ejected, the only serious opposition coming, from three or four determined machine gun crews, all of whom were eventually either killed or captured. C Coy. reached its final objective at. 4.35 p.m. The Battalion was now ensconced in the position it had set out to capture and protective posts were immediately put out, but these could not go very far forward owing to the heavy fire which the enemy was maintaining on our positions from the high ground in front, and our left flank was still exposed; consequently the latter was withdrawn a little as a protective flank until the arrival of the 78th shortly afterwards. During the course of this operation we captured 159 prisoners, 4 light trench mortars, 2 granatenwerfers, 5 heavy machine guns, 5 light machine guns. The trophies were all carefully tagged and left in accordance with instructions for shipment to Ordnance, but, as usually happened in the case of spoils of war, half of them were stolen by succeeding battalions. Captured trophies gave more trouble and were worth less than anything else; they were provocative of much dishonesty, every battalion naturally desiring to furnish ocular proof of its prowess, and they were the cause of much disappointment to home towns, where the authorities would be warned of the pending arrival of trophies which never reached their destination. Our own casualties on August 8th were as follows: Lieuts. J. L. Lloyd, J. K. Dawson,'C. T. Peers, and 20 Other Ranks killed or died of wounds; Lieuts. E. R. Niblett, E. S. Chagnon and 88 Other Ranks wounded. Source; War Diary Aug 9th; The 102nd Btn were taked with supporting an attack near Gentelle. The war diary reports that 3 officers were killed inc Lt Lloyd. He had joined the Btn at its inception, starting as Orderly Room Sergeant, then as Assistant Adjudant and frequently acting as Adjudant. This was his first experience of going over the top. The CWG date of death looks suspect. See copy of WD map THE DATE IS SUSPECT. SEE DETAILED ACCOUNT OF ACTION IN HISTORY OF 102ND BTN

Masonic :

John is recorded as a 24 year old bank clerk at the time of his initiation in 1905. The record also shows that he resigned in November 1909, so if he did not rejoin, he was not a subscribing freemason at the time of his death, leading to the fact that he is not included in the 1940 scroll.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley