HILLMAN, Roger

Roger Hillman was a Blackheath man who enlisted in the Medical Corps. He was sent to the 70th Field Ambulance Company attached to the 23rd Division. This was a mobile unit of 234 men capable of dealing with 150 casualties. In 1917 this Division was brought to the Ypres salient for the Battle of Messines. Its purpose was to capture the high ground of the Messines Ridge in preparation for Third Ypres. The Division attacked close to the Ypres to Commines railway. The battle opened on the 7th June with the well known simultaneous explosion of 19 mines under the German lines and rapid progress was made. However, retaliatory enemy shelling was considerable and Sergeant Roger Hillman was killed in action on this day. He is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Special Memorial E 23) near Zillebeke and is commemorated on the Blackheath and Halesowen Memorials.