ETTLE, Howard

Howard Ettle was the son of the late Mr J. Ettle and Mrs Anne Jeavons (Ettle) of 23 Swan Street, Dudley. He volunteered for the Worcester Territorials and joined the 2/7th Battalion. They joined the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division and went to the Western Front in the Spring of 1916. They fought on the Somme in the diversionary attack at Fromelles but suffered so many casualties that they were not in the front line again until January 1917. They followed up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in April and then moved to Flanders for the Third Battle of Ypres where they fought at Langemarck and on the Steenbeek in late August. The weather was as wet as it could be and attacks were costly. In September they moved to the Arras sector and were in the trenches on Greenland Hill. There were no great attacks but this was the Hindenburg Line and the enemy were keen to engage their opponents by artillery and sniping. On the 9th October Private Howard Ettle was killed in action. He was 18 years of age and is commemorated on the Arras and Dudley Memorials.