Issac Massing died from contracting so-called trench fever* while serving as a medical orderly in the First World war.
His service records are attach in the Media section.
Rank Private
Service Number: G/84210
Date of Death: 11/04/1918
Regiment 31sr labour battalions Works Unit :Middlesex Regiment United Kingdom
Grave I. 15. B. WEST HAM JEWISH CEMETERY
According to the 1911 Census he was known as Issy
Enemy Alien labour units of the Middlesex Regiment
Authorised by Army Council Instruction 1209 of 1916, the Middlesex Regiment formed two labour battalions, numbered 30th and 31st (Works) Battalions, manned by recruits who were naturalised British citizens but of enemy alien parentage. The men mainly came from German backgrounds and were for the most part not of low medical grade (such as was the case with the units of the Labour Corps). The two units remained in England as part of the regiment and were never transferred to the Labour Corps.
* Almost certainly the socalled Spainish Flue.
From 1918 to 1919, the Spanish flu infected an estimated 500 million people globally. This amounted to about 33% of the world's population at the time. In addition, the Spanish flu killed about 50 million people. About 675,000 of the deaths were in the U.S.
