SMITH, John

John Smith was the son of George Smith of 74 Pedmore Road, Lye. He enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters and joined the 11th Battalion. They were sent to the 8th Division in October 1915 and spent the next six months in training and after March 1916 in preparing for the Battle of the Somme. They were the reserve battalion for the planned attack on Ovillers but even in their rearward position they suffered casualties from German counter-battery shelling. On the 30th June Private John Smith was killed in action. He was 21 years of age and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and on the Lye and Wollescote and Lye church Memorials.