Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.
please scroll down to send a message
Pte. Henry Kelly
British Army 1st Btn Royal Dublin Fusiliers
During WW1 my Grandmother Marjory Thomas joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment in Liverpool. She met my Grandfather H.O.Daniel when she nursed him for smallpox.
Attached to a photograph of her was a letter from one of her patients;
“When this you see Remember me and let you not forget. Although I am wounded now. I hope to be happy yet.†No10304 Pte H. Kelly 1st Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers Wounded at Krithia, Dardanelles June 29th 1915 Liverpool December 20th 1915
Research on the web site shows the event before and when he was wounded: 21 June 1915 - I passed in The Gully what remained of the Dublin Fusiliers, less than a company. They were parading in their gas respirators, their M.O. lecturing them, and saying that if a rifle is a soldier's best friend, his respirator should come next. We are all provided with these. 28 June 1915. Their next major action was at Gully Ravine and commenced on 28 June, ending on 2 July. During the battle of Gully Ravine, General Hunter-Weston attempted to advance north along the western Gallipoli coastline, and thereby shorten the line of the salient at the centre of his front line. Though the initial attack took all its objectives, on the two following nights the Turks launched concerted counter-attacks during which the 1st Dublins suffered enormous casualties, the battalion losing on 28th - 29th June 236 officers and men killed, wounded and missing.
Henry Kelly was probably taken back to Liverpool by boat and survived the war as he is listed as having received the Silver War badge. This was intended to be worn by veterans on a day to day basis on civilian clothes in order to show that the person had served their country and been discharged for health reasons at a time when pressure was being placed on men to enlist. There were 29 different King’s Regulations or reasons for discharge that were used. The most common being (xvi) “No longer physically fit for war service†and (xxv) “His services being no longer requiredâ€. The SWB is sometimes also referred to as the Discharge Badge, Wound Badge or Services Rendered Badge.
