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Answering the Call
By John
Albeit a somewhat different call....
Sidney was assigned to the storied West Somerset Yeomanry, trained long and hard alongside men many years his senior, and upon completing training was sent with his unit to Egypt where he quietly celebrated his seventeenth birthday. As will soon be made clear, by this time his comrades and officers were certainly aware of his real age.Once in Egypt, his unit was tapped to form the 12th battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and officially became part of the 229th Infantry Brigade, 74th (Yeomanry) Division, XXI Corps. Palestine.
All around them war was raging. It was 1917, and although Sidney couldn't know it, the insanity that would later be called the first world war would end in just a few short months. In fact, it would end, in part, due to his unit's heroic efforts against the Turks defending the seam-line between British strongholds in Gaza and the heart of Ottoman Palestine; Jerusalem.
Of the 19 battalions raised under the banner of the Somerset Light Infantry during WWI, nearly 5000 men would be killed in battle, and countless more maimed for life. But to a seventeen-year-old, I'm sure the possibility of a tragic outcome was beyond consideration. I mean, what teenage boy isn't immune to danger... completely immortal... the center of the known universe? Surely he was slated for greatness after distinguishing himself in the war!
In late 1917, word arrived on the doorstep of 21 Church St., Sturminster Newton, Dorset, that young Sidney had indeed achieved greatness. It was a letter informing John William Watts that his son, Private Sidney Watts, had been killed in action against the Turks on November 6th, and that he'd been interred in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in a place called Beer Sheva alongside many of his fallen comrades.
It was the custom of the time to allow next of kin to select an inscription for their loved one's headstone... and this task now fell to the grieving parents of a young man who ran away to seek adventure, and who would now never have the opportunity to grow into his name. They settled on "Rest in Peace", likely too distraught to formulate anything more elaborate.
I came upon the details of this small heroic tragedy thanks to someone doing a Google search stumbling across a couple of my posts about the importance of Commonwealth forces in defeating the Turks in Beer Sheva, and how that victory laid the foundation for the British Mandate... and on its heels, the formation of the Jewish State.
The reader who wrote to me was seeking information about a great uncle of his who had run away to join the army and who was buried in Beer Sheva. He wanted to know if I could visit the grave of this young man and find out a bit about his final resting place.
What a silly question.
It was both an honor and a privilege for me to be able to 'write home' on behalf of this young man... and in some small way, put his family's mind to rest as to his whereabouts.
Thoughts flashed through my mind as I was reading this post. Sometimes a history education can get you all tangled up.
I settled on this. When you come to appreciate the values of the Republic... I mean truly love our wonderful virtues...freedom, justice, courage... all those traits that make a democracy a democracy, you begin to develop a profound appreciation for those who watered the tree of liberty with their blood, sweat, and tears.
Sometimes that appreciation transcends border. Sometimes it transcends time. And sometimes, it transcends both.
To honor a warrior who fell in defense of democracy is to honor democracy itself.
Thanks to Treppenwitz for remembering that, and thanks to Robert Avrech for sending me this inspiring story.
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Comments
Very nice.
Very cool story
Beautifully written story. Thanks.
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My son is now embarked on his second tour with the USMC, having done 3 tours with 3/7 as a Corpsman in OIF I, OIF II, and OIF III. He begins again FULL GREEN!!
PROUD PAPPA