Poignant pilgrimage and a shock discovery
MY wife and i have been married for 60 years, but it wasn’t until June 2009 that we went to visit the war grave in northern France of her uncle, Sidney Thomas Stapleton, a private in the 1st Surrey Rifles. Unbeknown to us, our son edward had taken matters into his own hands and, when we visited his home in Romsey that year, he took us to stay overnight in Ypres, Belgium, as an 80th birthday present for his mum. With edward and his wife, Debbie, we dined in Ypres Square before walking to the Menin gate for the nightly remembrance ceremony. how moving to see such respect for the occasion shown by the many youngsters present. after breakfast the next day we drove to Bailleul War Cemetery in France, where my wife and Debbie soon found the headstone of S.T. Stapleton. it was a sombre moment, with not a word spoken: we had achieved our objective. We lingered a while and then returned to the entrance to sign the visitors’ book and went back to Bailleul and took a tour of the countryside, before visiting the Pool of Peace. now fastforward to late november 2012 when we watched a Tv programme on the town of Messines, including excavations for a new water supply, exposing old World War i trenches and artefacts. Uncle S.T. had died of his wounds on June 7, 1917, the day the Battle of Messines started, though we didn’t know if he’d been involved in the battle. The next evening edward phoned to say his cousin, Brian, had texted him with a remarkable discovery. a teacher at a school in Welling, Kent, had set his pupils a World War i project and one girl had taken into school a dilapidated wicker container which had been exposed in a recess after the removal of a wall in her kitchen. and in it was memorabilia relating to S.T. Stapleton. The teacher had researched ‘Stapletons’ and contacted Brian. Letters in the container proved S.T. had been transferred to the 14th Battalion Royal irish Rifles, who had been involved in the Messines battle, which commenced at 3.10am on June 7, when explosives in 21 tunnels under the german lines were simultaneously ignited. nineteen went up, but two didn’t. S.T. Stapleton was 22 and had arrived in France two months earlier. Memorabilia in the container included a letter from S.T. to his mother, dated March 25, 1917, written from Windall Down Camp, Winchester; a postcard from S.T. to his mother stamped by the Post Office, Southampton, april 22, 1917; a letter saying he was in France and had been transferred to the Royal irish Rifles and was going up the line; a letter from S. T. to his sweetheart Maud, telling her he’s been discharged from hospital — just four days before his death; a letter from a nursing sister and a chaplain to his mother leaving no doubt that S.T. received abdominal wounds; a letter from Rifleman W. Thompson to S.T.’s mother seeking news of his friend S.T., with whom he had gone ‘over the top’; notification from the War Department of S.T.’s death and the dark bronze circular medallion issued to the next of kin of military personnel killed during World War i. There was also an order of service from 1918 at St John the Divine in Kennington, South London, for officers and riflemen of the 21st Battalion City of London Regt (1st Surrey Rifles) included a hymn to be sung kneeling, the first verse of which goes: ‘We loved thee well but Jesus loved thee best’ — words which took us back to Bailleul cemetery and S.T.’s headstone inscribed ‘We loved him well but Jesus loved him best’ — Tom from Mum.’
E. H. VOLLER, Langport, Somerset.