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Pte. Samuel Trim
British Army 68th Coy. Machine Gun Corps
from:South Brewham
(d.24th Dec 1916)
Samuel Trim enlisted voluntarily at Taunton between 10th and 12th January 1915, joining the 8th Somerset Light Infantry. He was then transferred to the MGC training school at Belton Park near Grantham on 1st January 1916 and on completion was attached to the 68th Company MGC, in 68th Brigade, 23rd Division. The 68th MGC landed in France on the S.S. La Marguerite on 25th February 1916.
The war diary describes how the Company moved into the trenches after a period of rest, on 6th December 1916. The guns took up positions in the Armagh Wood - Vince Street sector of line, which is south east of Zillebeke near Ypres. It was a relatively quiet tour.
Over the next days, German artillery was active and the Company positions were shelled. The diary is rather matter-of-fact about it all and mentions no casualties. On 22nd December the Company was relieved and began to move out of the trenches for rest at Erie Camp, west of Ypres. As it moved through the ruins of Zillebeke around 6pm, heavy shellfire fell.
It is reasonable to assume that Samuel was a victim of this shelling, and that he may have been hit in Zillebeke. He was evacuated, making it as far as the medical facilities at Remy Farm (No 3 Canadian CCS) in the hamlet of Lijssenthoek, west of Poperinge. He succumbed to gunshot wounds to the Shoulder, thigh, elbow and side (shrapnel) on 24th December 1916 and is buried in Lijssenthoek military cemetery.
His brother L/Cpl Ernest Frank Trim 12156 8th Bn Somerset Light Infantry was killed on 28th April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the missing.
