31 July 2016

99th anniversary: Passchendaele

Today I shall be remembering Edward Cohen, my great-uncle, who died on this date serving with the 12th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
He was one of 6,525 who died on that day, including 91 from his battalion according to www.cwgc.org. Like 70 others of his battalion his body was not recovered and his name is on the Menin Gate.
He was awarded a posthumous Military Cross which was donated to Queen's College, Cambridge, where he had been a student.
The Third Battle of Ypres eventually cost a quarter of a million British Empire lives.
Read more about Edward Cohen at http://theyserved.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Cohen


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1 comment:

  1. Celia Lewis31 July, 2016 14:35

    So many of us have great-uncles who died in the Great War - I have three. So many lives with great potential, lost forever. Incredibly sad.

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