Rifleman J.G. Cummings

FIRST NAMES: James Gordon

UNIT: 1/8th West Yorkshire Regiment

NUMBER: 42828

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 9th October 1917

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: The Tyne Cot Memorial

AGE: 21


James' next of kin is listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as his sister, Mrs. Laura Gordon Reed of Ormesby, Marton.

The 1/8th West Yorkshires took part in a major attack on 9th October which became known as the Battle of Poelcapelle, one of a series of battles which together became better known as The Battle of Passchendaele. They attacked over ground at the foot of the final rise to Passchendaele village itself, near what was known, with good reason, as Marsh Bottom. The ground had been completely devastated by shellfire and the rain had turned it into a deadly quagmire of mud and flooded shellholes, laced with barbed wire and swept by German artillery and machine gun fire. Little wonder then that the Battalion was only able to struggle through the swamp for 300 yards before being compelled to dig in around a pillbox called Kronprinz Farm.

James was killed during this attack, at the age of 21, and his body, like countless others, was lost in the morass. He is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot no more than 2 Kms to the South of where he died.