JOHNSON, Frank

Frank Johnson was the son of Mrs Mary Johnson of 'Shenstone View', 14 Melbourne Road, Halesowen, and attended Halesowen C of E School. He volunteered on the 2nd September 1914 for the Worcesters and joined the 1st Battalion in January 1915. He fought at Neuve Chapelle in March and as an experienced machine gunner he was selected for the newly formed Machine Gun Corps in 1916. He went to the 52nd Company, eventually in the 17th Division. In 1917 they fought at Arras and at Passchendaele during the long Third Battle of Ypres. In 1918 they were on the Hindenburg Line at St Quentin to face the first German Spring offensive and in August they took part in the start of the Advance to Victory. On the 21st they crossed the flooded Ancre and advanced slowly over the old Somme battlefield on their way back to the Hindenburg Line but Private Frank Johnson was killed in action near Bapaume on the 2nd September, exactly three years since he enlisted. He was 25 years of age and is buried in Boyelles Communal Cemetery Extension (II G 9) and commemorated on the Halesowen and Halesowen C of E School Memorials.