LEE, Thomas

Thomas Lee attended Halesowen C of E school and volunteered for the Halesowen Company of the Worcester Territorials before 1914. They went overseas with the 1/7th Battalion in April 1915 and saw much action in the next two years in Artois and on the Somme. He was a fine soldier and had been promoted to Lance Sergeant by 1917. In the summer of this year the Worcesters came back into the front line for the October battles of Third Ypres. At great cost the German troops had been pushed back some way towards Passchendaele and on the 9th October began the Battle of Poelcappelle. A mile to the south of the village and in pouring rain and deep mud the Worcesters attacked at dawn. They made initial progress but the conditions prevented mobility and many died under fire. Among those killed in action was Lance Sergeant Thomas Lee. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot, Halesowen, Short Cross Methodist Church and Halesowen C of E school Memorials.