Letter from Lance-corporal H. J. Ward, KSLI.

WOUNDED
[Bridgnorth Journal, 19th October, 1918]

Mr E. Ward, 58 St. Mary’s Street, Bridgnorth, has been officially informed that his eldest son, 200173 Lance-corpl. H. J. Ward, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, had been wounded in action on the 24th ult, his injuries consisting of gunshot wounds to the head and foot. He was first taken to 5 General Hospital, Rouen, and subsequently removed to Tooting Military Hospital, London. In a letter to his parents, describing how he received his injuries he says:

“On the 24th Sept. we went ‘over the top’ just at daybreak, before a fine barrage, and succeeded in taking the trench (our platoon did), but Jerry succeeded in bombing us out. We had successfully killed a large number of Germans. However, we got into the trench again, and it was over then. A little later in the morning I was leading a party up to the front position in the line, when I was wounded in the foot, but only slight. The Germans made a counter attack. There were about seven or eight in our trench, and a shell dropped in the middle – it put me just out, and I never saw anybody move. I got to the Machine Gun Corps Aid Post, had it bound up, and from there four Jerry prisoners carried me.”