WOOD, John Thomas

John Thomas Wood was the son of John Wood of 22 Pensnett Road, Holly Hall. He volunteered for the Worcesters and was sent to the 10th (Service) Battalion. He was shortly attached to the 255th Tunnelling Company. Royal Engineers, which was formed in January 1916 and stationed near Neuve Chapelle. John Wood would have volunteered for this dangerous service and could well have had experience as a miner in the Dudley area. The Company was engaged in the Spring of 1916 near Souchy on the Vimy front making subways under the front line to hamper enemy trench mortar sites. Names of subways included Marble Arch, Gumboot and Rotten Row. In the Arras sector the Company built two huge underground water reservoirs for troops making attacks and a complex tunnel system called Bunny Hutch at Givenchy. German enterprise did not quite equal the British but both accidents and attacks led to casualties. Private John Wood was killed in action on the 23rd April 1916 and is buried in Gorre British and Indian Cemetery (I A 18) and commemorated on the Dudley and Woodside Memorials.