Three First World War soldiers honoured at CWGC cemeteries

Rededication services were held for three First World War soldiers at CWGC war cemeteries in France this week.

A ceremony for Lieutenant Leonard Cameron Kidd MC and 2^nd Lieutenant Fenton Ellis Stanley Phillips MC, both of The Royal Flying Corps, was held at the CWGC’s Caterpillar Valley Cemetery on Thursday.

Family members, friends, Squadron representatives and local dignitaries attended the service held 101 years after they lost their lives.

Lt Kidd MC and 2^nd Lt Phillips MC, 3 Squadron RFC, were killed on 12 October 1916 during the Le Transloy phase of the Battle of the Somme, flying a Morane Saulnier Parasol aircraft. Records confirm they were hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed. Through research it was established the two were buried next to each other in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

Lieutenant Leonard Cameron Kidd MC was born in 1893 in the Bromsgrove area. He was educated at Bromsgrove School and at the outbreak of war was tea planting in Ceylon. Already a qualified pilot, he enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to France in February 1916. Operating over the Somme area, shortly before his death Leonard received notification that he had been awarded the Military Cross. An entry in the London Gazette of 14 November 1916 war records that his Military Cross was awarded ‘for conspicuous skill and gallantry on contact patrol work'. Leonard was also awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Second Lieutenant Fenton Ellis Stanley Phillips MC was born in 1895 and was the younger son of the Rector of Bow, Devon. At the outbreak of war he enlisted into the Artists Rifles as a Private, later being gazetted as a second Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment. He was sent to France in May 1915 and in May 1916 joined the Royal Flying Corps.

In September 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross, which an entry in the London Gazette of 23 October 1916, records it was ‘for conspicuous gallantry and skill’. He was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Today (Friday), a rededication ceremony for Lance Corporal Robert King, of the 26^th Battalion Canadian Infantry, was held at CWGC Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery.

L/Cpl King was killed in action on 8 August - the first day of the Battle of Amiens. The location of L/Cpl King’s grave was not recorded in his personnel file so as a missing soldier he was commemorated on the Vimy Memorial as one of more than 11,000 Canadians “missing, presumed dead” in France.

Nearly 100 years after his death, L/Cpl King’s grave was identified in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery. Research and analysis concluded the grave originally recorded as belonging to an unknown Lance Corporal of the 26^th Battalion who died on 8 August 1918, matched the circumstances and location of L/Cpl King’s death.

The service was attended by Lieutenant Commander (ret’d) Steve St-Amant, of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) Study Group, who researched and located L/Cpl King’s grave.

The CWGC provided the headstones for both ceremonies.