220973 Sgt. Edwyn Williams British Army 8th Btn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers from:Leeswood, Mold Edwyn Williams was a teacher who signed up for military service in September 1915 at Wrexham. After basic training on Salisbury Plain he was shipped out to join the 8th Battalion in Alexandria who had just returned there from fighting in Gallipoli. The strengthened battalion was shipped to Basra and joined other British and Indian forces marching to Kut al Amara where the Garrison had been besieged by Ottoman forces for nearly 5 months. Unfortunately they were just too late as the Garrison surrendered just before they arrived.
Edwyn was amongst the 770 soldiers of the 8th Battalion who were struck down by Enteric and other hot climate diseases on the march to Kut. In fact, he was so ill he nearly died 4 times. His war was over, and he was transferred to Wellington Barracks in South India but never fully recovered his health. He remained in India in a rehabilitation role until 1919 when he returned to Leeswod, married and had one child. He died in 1928 aged 37.
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