COLE, Percy

Percy Cole was a long-serving regular soldier in the Worcesters who volunteered to serve in his old regiment. He joined the 1st Battalion in August 1916 and served during the Somme battles. In following up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line he was injured in the fighting at Bouchavesnes on the 4th March 1917. He was sent home to a hospital in Newcastle with wounds to his back and legs. He recovered enough to serve in the 5th (Home) Battalion but died at the Northern General Hospital, Newcastle, of pneumonia on the 12th April 1919. He is buried at St. Luke's, Cradley Heath, and commemorated on the Cradley and Halesowen Memorials.