BAYLISS, Joseph

Joseph Bayliss lived at 12 Red Hill, Dudley, and volunteered for the Worcesters. He was a long serving regular soldier who was called up from the Reserve in August 1914 to return to the 3rd Battalion in the British Expeditionary Force at Aldershot. He endured the Retreat from Mons in 1914 and the Battle of the Marne. In 1915 he fought in the Ploegsteert sector and in March 1916 they moved to Arras. On the 26th April they took over the front line half way the Vimy ridge and began a contest among the craters and pits of this much tunnelled area. On the 28th the enemy exploded a huge mine beside the British line causing many casualties. The line was saved after much frantic fighting but Private Joseph Bayliss was among those killed in action. He is buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery at Mont St. Eloi (II B 1) and commemorated on the Dudley Memorial.