Which battle was Herbert Strong injured in?
Q My grandfather, Herbert George Strong (born 1878), was living with his wife, Alice, and son, Albert Edward (my father), in Worthing in 1911. He was a private (267680) in the 17th Battalion King’s (Liverpool) Regiment and was discharged from the army on 19 August 1918-1 assume because he was wounded in battle.
I have been unable to find him in the 1921 census, but he married Mary Helen Dunne in 1932, a year after his first wife Alice died.
I would like to know in which battle he was wounded and where he was in 1921.
Alan Strong
A Herbert's Silver War Badge Roll on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) says that he enlisted on 29 November 1915, making him a volunteer. He'd have done at least six months' training, and his Medal Index Card shows that he went to France with the 17th Liverpool Regiment after the start of 1916. He may not have even gone to France until after March 1917 because his number, 267860, wasn't issued until then.
Herbert's pension card is on Fold3 () and), but says nothing about his wound. In ndmypast's collection ‘British Army, First World War Casualty L sts', Herbert is shown as wounded in the 2 August 1917 Casualty List while serving in the (King's) Liverpool Regiment. The War Diary for the 17th Liverpools is downloadable free from The National Archives (WO 95/2334). It details how the battalion took part in an attack during the Battle of Pilckem Ridge on 31 July outside Ypres. They were machine-gunned, with two officers and 35 men killed, and two officers and 120 men wounded. They dug in, suffering 105 further casualties, including 74 wounded, over the following three days. Herbert was probably among these, but may have been wounded in the initial attack.
