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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. John Hearn
British Army 16th Btn. Devonshire Regiment
from:Bideford
(d.2nd Sept 1918)
John Hearn from Bideford was in the Devonshire Regiment in 1915 at Gallipoli in conflict against the Turks and also fighting against flies, disease and dysentery until Dec 1915. Then to Egypt just in time for 1916 New Year celebration and fighting the Turks again.
In January 1917, at Moascar, Egypt the two North Devon Regiments, The Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry and the Royal North Devon Hussars were amalgamated into one unit and renamed the 16th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. John and the 16th Devons were sent to the front at Gaza fighting against the Turks in the Invasion of Palestine, and the Second and Third Battles of Gaza, including the capture of Beersheba and the Sheria Position.
They left Egypt in April 1918 and arrived in France in May. By August 1918 John Hearn, in the 16th Devons was taking part in some of the Battles on the Somme, and from 21st August to 3rd September 1918 they were fighting at what becomes known as the Second Battle of Bapaume second phase of the battle of Amiens.
In the evening of 1st of September 1918 the 16th Devons, attached to 229th Brigade, 74th Division, took over trenches from the 58th Division east of Bouchavesnes. They had orders to attack the German lines at 5.30 the next morning. Next morning, 2nd September, at zero hour the West Somersets led the attack with the Fifes and Forfars in support. A and B Companies of the 16th Devons were to follow them up, and as they passed Moislains the Devons were to veer off to clear the village, believing that little opposition, if any, was there. But as they went forward the West Somersets and the Fifes and Forfars were enfiladed with gun-fire from trenches near the village and suffered terribly. As A and B Companies of the Devons went forward they ran into a hail of machine-gun fire, and they too suffered terribly and were stopped at the outskirts of Moislains.
This was the day that John Hearn was killed. He has no known grave but is Remembered with Honour at the Vis En-Artois Memorial in France. His widow Edith was left with their three young daughters. Edith remarried and had another four children, but soon after the birth of her youngest, both mother and baby died. They are buried together at East-the-Water, Bideford, North Devon.
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