Herbert Withers
Memorial: Olveston
Regiment: Royal Berkshire Regiment
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 25556
Marital status: Married
Pre-war occupation: Cowman
Date of birth: 1889
Date of death: 23/12/1916
Buried/Commemorated at: Karasouli Military Cemetery (B. 237.), Thessaloniki, Greece
Further information:
Herbert, by now aged 26 years and 9 months and giving his occupation as a cowman, enlisted in Bristol on the 18th of December 1915 and was directed to join the Royal Berkshire Regiment’s 9th Battalion. He left behind his wife Mary Ann (née Sage) from Olveston and three children, William John (generally known as Jack), Catherine and George. He was called up on the 7th of June 1916 and after training was transferred to the 7th Battalion, who were serving in Salonika, where he was billeted in the village of Laina. The Battalion launched an evening raid on the 23rd of December 1916 against the Austrians entrenched on the Greece/Serbia border on the western slopes of Mamelon. There was heavy enemy shelling and the 7th Battalion lost five men killed with thirty wounded and one missing. Herbert Withers lost his life with barely six months army service. His grave is in the Karasouli Military Cemetery thirty-five miles north-west of Thessaloniki, Greece.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
Forces War Records and CWGC