UNITT, Benjamin

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