Two World War One Soldiers Buried with full military honours in France

Bearer party led by Sergeant Major P Kinsey (Crown Copyright).

Two soldiers, whose remains were found in a cave, have been laid to rest with full military honours more than a century after their deaths.

The service for Serjeant (Sjt) John Smith of Gloucestershire, and Gunner (Gnr) Charles Lightfoot of Edinburgh, both of the 29th Battery Royal Field Artillery, was organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), and held at the CWGC Vendresse British Cemetery, France on 12 June 2024. 

In 2015, French archaeologists working in caves near Chassemy noted an inscription on the cave wall:

15 Sept 1914 Here lies Sjt Smith and 3 Gnrs 29th Battery RFA * 

Despite the reference to four casualties, excavations revealed just two sets of remains. Research, genealogy and DNA testing found those remains to be Sjt Smith and Gnr Lightfoot. 

Coffin guarded by soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (Crown Copyright).

The 29th Battery Royal Field Artillery arrived in Rouen shortly after war broke out in 1914, working their way east towards Belgium, and then south towards the Aisne. By mid-September they were fighting around the Aisne area. 

On 13 September the troops marched from Cerseuil and halted at about 8.30am just north of Braine. German shells were bursting on the road, but they continued to Brenelle, and halted at midday until 5.30pm. They stayed the night of September 13 to 14 in Brenelle and were then brought into action just north of the Chassemy to Brenelle Road. The Battery was heavily shelled and afterwards moved position. At dusk the Brigade moved to the east of the Braine to Brenelle Road. 

The war diaries make no reference to casualties during these dates, but other records show the 29th Battery lost four men between 13 and 14 September. Evidence shows that a gun position was hit by a shell on 13 September, and this killed at least two. The men known to have been killed by the shell were Sjt Smith and Gnr Lightfoot, and the other two men who died that day were Gnr Adams and Gnr Blyth. By the end of the war their burial place was unknown, and all four were listed on the memorial to the missing at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre. Whilst Smith and Lightfoot have now been identified unfortunately Gunners Blyth and Adams remain missing. 

Reverend Major Roger Grafton leads the burial service (Crown Copyright).

Alexia Clark, MOD War Detective said:
“It has been a privilege to work on this case, and to be able to give these men the dignified burial they deserve, whilst offering closure to their family members. I am grateful to Sjt Smith’s cousin and Gnr Lightfoot’s great-nephew for offering their DNA to allow us to identify these men, and for the input other members of the families have offered to create a truly special service for them today. Whilst Gnrs Adams and Blyth remain unfound, we have also been able to remember them today, and acknowledge their sacrifice.” 

Reverend Roger Grafton, Chaplain to 14th Regiment Royal Artillery said:
“I am so excited to have been asked to take part in this ceremony at Vendresse. Last year I was asked to be involved in the burial of an unknown soldier at the Guard’s Cemetery in Lesboeufs, so to be invited to take part again so quickly after that is a real honour. I have served with the Royal Artillery for the last 10 years as a chaplain, and one of the Gunners’ straplines is “once a Gunner, always a Gunner. To be able to lay two of our own to rest today after so many years is a particular privilege.” 

The military party and families of Sjt Smith and Gnr Lightfoot at the graveside (Crown Copyright).

The graves will now be cared for in perpetuity by CWGC. 

CWGC Head of Commemorations, Mel Donnelly, said:
"We are thankful to everyone involved in helping to identify Sjt Smith and Gnr Lightfoot. It was moving and fitting to see them buried with full military honours at Vendresse British Cemetery, and we will care for their graves in perpetuity."

Serjeant John Smith

John Smith was born in Taynton, Gloucestershire in 1884, the oldest of seven children born to John and Emily Smith. John senior was involved in farming, and by the time of the 1891 census the family had moved to Frocester near Stroud. By 1901 John junior had moved away from his parents and was boarding in a house at Stapleton, Bristol, whilst working as a carter. At some point after this, but before joining the military, he progressed from carter to groom. 

Whilst no service record survives for John Smith, we know that by 1911 he was already a serjeant in the Royal Field Artillery, as the census records him as an unmarried man living at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, and serving with 137th Battery. 

Left: Serjeant John Smith (Copyright: Smith family), Right: Gunner Charles Lightfoot and Nettie (Copyright: Lightfoot family).

Gunner Charles Lightfoot

Charles Lightfoot was born in Edinburgh in 1893, the seventh of ten children of Henry Lightfoot and his wife Jeannie Welsh. Henry was a mattress maker, and the family lived at the Royal Blind Asylum. In 1901 Charles was attending school in Edinburgh, and by 1911 he was employed as a labourer at the gasworks. In 1912 he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery for three years in the army and nine in the reserve, and was sent to No 6 Depot (Maryhill Barracks , Glasgow). 

In late 1912, he was sent to Exeter, to Topsham Barracks. 

A postcard sent home described the long journey and the expected riding practice. In those days the barracks were surrounded by buttercup fields, and Topsham Road led into the city past Holloway Street, where cattle and sheep were led to market, and where Janet Eliza (Nettie) Forse, lived with her parents who ran a small grocery shop. Charles and Nettie met, fell in love, and were married in 1914. By the time Charles was sent to France, Nettie was expecting a baby. Their daughter Jean was born a few months after her father’s death.