The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War

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213020 Sergeant James Greenan DCM. British Army 6th Btn. Border Regiment from:Cleator Moor near Whitehaven (d.7th Jun 1917) James Greenan was a Great Uncle of mine. Said to have been previously injured in a "gas attack" but returned to his unit and was killed in action 7th June 1917. I have to assume it was in the action at Messines. I have tried to find evidence of his war grave but there seems to be no record of this. It has been said he was shot through the heart. There is a silk embroidered postcard in our familys possession which was reported to have been in his breast pocket when he was shot. The postcard does have a damaged edge. Jim Mc Donald Add to this record.    Additional Information: From an extract from a Diary written by Richard Wilson about events on 7/6/1917 ""On the night of June 6th we leave Mont Noir at 11pm and proceed to the neighbourhood of Kemmel. Leave there about 12 noon on the 7th and proceed to the firing line. From there we commence our attack under cover of a splendid and terrific barrage from our artillery. We go without opposition for about three quarters of a mile when we suddenly get a fearful bombardment from Fritz's heavy guns. Many were killed and wounded including Cpl Heap from Kendal, Major Chance and many others. We however got through this barrage and although we were disorganised we went on. The enemy's infantry would not stand and we drove them about two miles taking many prisoners. About one hundred of us assembled at Odoute Trench and led by Capt Hood and Lieuts Roberts and Farmer we attacked a farm. We find it already in the hands of the Australians. We form up to support them and are subjected to terrific trench mortar fire also troubled by snipers. Lt Farmer killed and I believe Lt Roberts if not killed badly wounded. I had a marvellous escape having just left a shell hole when all the occupants were killed one being Sgt Greenan DCM. This day has been one of the hardest and most furious that has ever been known. Our artillery firing short at night caused us to lose some of the ground we held. But altogether we did famous. I had dozens of near shaves. I hear Lt Roberts is dead, Major Chance doing nicely." this would seem to suggest that it was a shell exploding and killing all in the shell hole and may be the reason that your relative has no known grave Ian Jackson Reply Related Content: Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? If so please let us know. Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?" We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages. The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers. This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved - We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.