TURNER, John Thomas

John Turner lived in Birmingham Street, Halesowen, and attended Halesowen C of E School. He was married before the Great War and had several children. He enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment and joined the 9th Battalion which served on the Western Front throughout the war. In 1916 they were involved on the 1st July in the first day of the Somme at La Boisselle and they were still there in November to participate in the long Battle of the Ancre. In sleet the Cheshires attacked at 5 p.m. on the 20th November with the ruins of Grandcourt as the objective. For once it was not the terrain but the darkness that aided the enemy. The village was taken by other units but Private John Turner was killed in action on the 21st. He is buried in Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval (VIII C 10) and commemorated on the Halesowen and Halesowen C of E School Memorials.