213055 Pte. Sidney Arthur O'Dell British Army 26th Btn. Royal Fusiliers from:Walthamstow, London, Sidney O'Dell was born in London in 1887, a printer by profession he married in April 1911 and had one daughter when WW1 broke out in September 1915. Initially he volunteered for Kitchener's army in 1915 but was rejected on account of his flat feet. He then served in the Army Pay Corp until mid to late 1916 when he was drafted to the 26th Royal Fusiliers after the Army relaxed their standards. He first went to France in early 1917 as reinforcements and took part in the Battle of Passendale. In December 1917 he went to northern Italy with the battalion for strengthening the Italians against the Austrians. In early March 1918 he returned to the Western Front and was engaged against the German advance at Valux-Vraucourt. At around the 24th March he was seriously wounded in the leg and evacuated to England to recuperate in hospital in Liverpool. He never returned to France but served as a musketry instructor with the battalion for the remainder of the war. After the end of the war he returned to the Army Pay Corp to assist with demobilisation and returned to civilian life in 1919. In 1922 he and his wife and three daughters emigrated to New Zealand.
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