Frederick Charles Griffiths

When war broke out he enlisted and served with the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in France from 4th October 1915. He died of wounds on 12 April 1917 aged 23 years and was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. He wrote many post cards to his sister Victoria May (who Fred called Queenie) both from within England and France. He had a girlfriend Louie and sister Victoria May remembered having to go to see her family to let them know that he had been killed as her mother could not do it. In July 1915 Fred was based at the Inkerman Barracks in Woking. He wrote some postcards from there to his sister Queenie. While Fred was still in training, his 9th Battalion landed in France, at Boulogne, on 31st August 1915. Just a few weeks later on September 25th the battalion tasted it first action at the Battle of Loos and suffered heavy losses. Fred would have joined them soon after on 4th October. In 1916 it was at Hooge (14th February), Wulverghem (30th April) and during the Battle of the Somme it fought at the Battle for Delville Wood (11th -22nd, 31st August – 2nd September) and the Battle for Guillemont (3rd – 5th September). In 1917 the battalion took part in the attack on Bois en Hache at the Vimy Ridge (9th -14th April), and this is where Fred received the wounds from which he died. According to the 9th Battalion war diary, the attack on Bois en Hache "took place in a blinding snow storm & over ground full of large shell holes & churned into a sea of mud by bad weather and heavy shelling". "The attack was timed for 5am on the 12th, just before dawn. All Companies moved into position of assembly without delay or casualty by 1am & Tea & Rum were issued to the men. The difficult operation of forming up on the proper alignment was carried out under cover of a blizzard 5 mins before zero. In the attack heavy casualties were at once sustained from M.G. fire. The first objective was at once captured with about 60 casualties, including 3 officers of “B” Coy, 1 of “A” Coy & 1 of “C” Coy. About 6 Germans who fought were bayonetted, the remainder were captured or ran away. At 5:10am the advance continued." The village of Chocques is about 4 kilometres north west of Bethune on the road to Lillers, and Chocques Military Cemetery lies to the north of the village on the east side of the road to Gonnehem. Chocques was in British occupation from the late autumn 1914 to the end of the War. From January 1915 to April 1918, No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station was posted in the village, and during that time almost all the burials in the Cemetery were those of men who died there of wounds received in fighting on the Bethune front. It is interesting to note that the land occupied as British War Cemeteries in France is, by a law of 29th December 1915, the free gift of the French people for the perpetual resting place of those who are laid there. Fred's grave was visited on 2 May 2012 by Geoff and Julitha Barber, Logan Barber, Tony and Vera Barber, Brendan Barber and Rowena Williams. A wreath was laid at the grave which included some yellow wattle flowers from Australia. The headstone had recently been renovated and the inscription looked quite crisp and newly done. The visit was organised as part of a tour of the Western Front, and also included visits to the grave of Enos England at Fleurs cemetery, and also Alfred England's memorial at Thiepval (he has no known grave), both great uncles to Vera Barber (nee England). Next to Fred is the grave of Sergeant W.G. Thompson from the Royal Sussex Regiment who also died of wounds on the same day as Fred. Both were sent to No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station in Chocques where they would have died. Research has found that William George Thompson came from East Grinstead in Sussex. Fred's name is recorded on a number of memorials including the Royal Sussex Regiment Chapel inside Chichester Cathedral; the War Memorial in Old Steine, Brighton; and on a memorial at his old school in Stanford Rd, Brighton. Check the Imperial War Museum website "Lives of the First World War" for full details: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/1475107#timeline