UNITT, Benjamin

Benjamin Unitt came from Cradley and attended Cradley C of E School. He volunteered in August 1914 for the South Staffordshire Regiment and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion which became the Pioneer battalion of the 23rd Division. It was engaged in small parties repairing roads, making defences and assisting the other battalions in the Division. In the Flanders mud of September and October 1917 its tasks were enormous. The Staffords were engaged weeks of intense fighting half way through Third Ypres in the battle of the Menin Road from the 21st September and again from the 10th October. Losses were high and included Private Benjamin Unitt who is buried in the Menin Road South Cemetery (II M 21) and commemorated on the Cradley, Halesowen and Cradley C of E School Memorials.