HEATH, Alfred

Alfred Heath was a pre-war regular soldier in the Worcesters who had lived in Cradley. In 1914 he was probably a reservist and was called up on the declaration of war on the 4th August to join the 3rd Battalion. They landed in France on the 12th August, advanced to Mons and then retreated to the Marne. There they advanced to the river Aisne and stabilised the line. The German attack switched to Artois and in October the Worcesters helped to stop the enemy advance in the Battle of La Bassée. Private Alfred Heath was seriously wounded around this time and he returned to England to the Connaught Hospital, Aldershot, where he died of wounds on the 23rd November. He was 26 years of age and is buried in Halesowen Cemetery (E 163) and commemorated on the Cradley and Halesowen Memorials. His brother, William, was in the same battalion and was killed in June 1915.