Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Hero relative we lost in the prelude to the Battle of Mud
MY great-great-uncle died in one of the first attacks of the 1917 offensive that heralded the start of the Battle of Passchendaele.
Gunner Abraham Birch Stowe, from Solihull, West Midlands, died in the Allied attack on Messines in June 10, 1917, aged 38.
Records show he died under heavy German shelling as the commanding officers decided to move from the vantage point.
Orders to pull guns out of the dangerous position had been dispatched but Abraham could not get out in time.
There had already been a large number of casualties before mines were placed under the German front line at Messines. It caused a pyrotechnic display visible for miles and left three huge craters.
Abraham was better known by his middle name Birch, which was passed on to my grandad, William Birch Parry, by his sister. My dad also got the middle name Birch.
Yesterday, I visited his grave at Vlamertinghe on the edge of Ypres for the first time. Like so many of the small cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it is immaculate.
Abraham had no children of his own but it must have been a comfort to his family to know that he had been laid to rest in such a peaceful place.
Today it seems that his death, like so many in the Great War, was completely futile.
The Messines onslaught was considered a military success but it was the prelude to the disastrous Passchendaele offensive just a month later.
Abraham was in the Royal Garrison Artillery, which played a significant role at Passchendaele, also known as the third Battle of Ypres. He served as both bombardier and gunner.
Before serving in France and Belgium, he was stationed with the British Army in Malta. In 1915, he was awarded three medals.
Most of his service records were destroyed, like millions of others, by German bombing in the Second World War.