DAVIS, John Henry

John Davis attended Wollescote school and volunteered for the Worcesters. He joined the 9th (Service) Battalion which took part in the second landings on Gallipoli in August 1915. After five months of trench warfare in appalling conditions they were evacuated and sent to Mesopotamia to continue the struggle with the Turkish Empire. They were unable to lift the siege of Kut in time to rescue the besieged troops and then had to survive the heat of the 1916 Summer. In December the British forces began the advance up the Tigris. The first obstacle was the river Hai and the Worcesters were in the lead for the attack on the Turkish trenches on the 15th December. A major break-through was achieved but among the casualties was Private John Davis. He is commemorated on the Basra Lye and Wollescote, Lye church and Wollescote school Memorials.