231654 Sgt. Harry Wild British Army 1st Btn. East Lancashire Regiment from:Padiham (d.12th April 1917) Harry Wild was a mill worker who joined the 5th E. Lancs as a territorial around 1905. By the outbreak of war in 1914 he had risen to the rank of Serjeant. He was also a chorister at Higham Church in Lancashire.
He saw service with 5th East Lancs in Egypt in 1914 before landing at Gallipolli and fighting at Krithia Vineyard. He was wounded, in the arm I believe from family stories, and invalided to Egypt. He returned to Padiham and was discharged as time served, returning to mill work in 1916.
After a few months, and seemingly missing military life, he re-enlisted in 1st East Lancs and was shipped to France in late 1917. The 1st E. Lancs were a reserve unit at the 1st Battles of the Scarpe, part of the Battle of Arras/Vimy Ridge and sometime on 10th April he was wounded. He was evacuated to the Casualty Clearing Station at Aubigny where he died of wounds two days later on 12th April, aged 32. He is buried in the Aubigny Community Extension cemetery.
He left a son, then aged 5, my father, who died never having visited his father's grave. I visited first in 1991 and a number of times since researching my grandfathers last days.
He is commemorated on the Padiham War Memorial and also on the small memorial in Higham churchyard. He was my grandfather and, with his great granddaughter, hope to commemorate the centenary of his death in April 1917 in Arras.
|