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Pte. James Blake
British Army 8th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
from:Salisbury, Wiltshire
(d.21st March 1918)
James Blake previously enlisted on 22nd of July 1901, 18 days after his 17th birthday and served in the Wiltshire Regiment. After several years service he returned to civilian life as a builder's labourer in his home town of Salisbury. He remained on the reserve list and at the outbreak of WW1 he was called up in August 1914, joining the RAMC. He was shipped out to the front immediately and saw engagement in the Retreat from Mons within the same month.
His role as a stretcher bearer took him into the front lines of all major battles for the next three and half years. His last leave home was a few days in January 1918 when he was reunited with his wife Jennie and daughters Hilda 7, Edna 4 and Phyllis who had been born July 1916. He was racked with bronchitis but insisted on returning to the front to allow the other boys their turn for leave.
Only weeks after, on the 21st March, Jim was killed in action during the first day of 'Operation Michael' when for the first time the German Army launched their new tactic that opened their attack directly on the centres of command as opposed to the front line - no doubt the field ambulances where all at the back expecting to move forward after the first strike...
There is no known grave for James Blake, the grandfather that his 5 grandchildren never knew - but we have found him commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais. His name can still be found on the War Memorial in the town centre of Salisbury (my mother Hilda, then aged 9, was on the platform wearing his medal on the day it was opened by the town's dignitaries) and his name can also be found in the RAMC's Golden Book of Remembrance that is kept close to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey.
