TONGE WAR MEMORIAL
NEAR SITTINGBOURNE KENT.
The small hamlet of Tonge is near where i grew up. It is hard to believe that such a small place could have so many fatal casualties, especially when it is reackoned that for every man killed another 3 were wounded.
The memorial was opened in 1920 and is a brass plaque on the church wall, its a small church with what is reputed to be bullet holes in the door from the English Civil War.
The inscription on the plaque says:
"To the glory of God and in honoured and loving memory of the men of this parish, who gave their lives for King and Country in the great world war 1914-19"
The names of the men commemorated and listed below may vary from the plaque as the units and spellings of the surname is in variance to official records, it was common for a man to be transfered from his original unit but be listed still as surving with his unit of enlistment.
| Name and details | Photo grave | Photo man |
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Lieut Basil Lang Marling Apperly. RWK.Regt Died of wounds 19-4-17. Buried Etaples Military Cemetery 17.A.6.
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Capt Alan John Bowles. Berks Regt. Died 10-4-18. Buried Becourt Military Cemetery 1.H.C
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Stoker Sydney Fearne. RN Died of Disease HMS Octavia. Buried Gillingham Woodlands rd Cemetery. |
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Pte Stephen H Hook. RWK Regt No casualty is listed. The only Stephen H Hook served with the Yorks Regt and appears to have no connection with the South of England. |
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Pte John E.H.Manser. Canadians Killed with 1st Bttn CEF 13th Oct 1915. Buried St.Quentin Cabaret Cem, Wulvegem, Belgium.1.C.15 |
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Pte S.George Pilcher. RFA Killed 21st Oct 1916 and buried Varrennes Military Cemetery, Somme,France 1.E.5 |
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Pte John George Pope. Buffs Killed with 8th Bttn 18-Aug-1916 at Delville Wood, Somme. Has no
known grave and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. |
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Tpr Martin T Prett. E.K.M.R Died of Wounds 31st Jul 1917 with 11th Bttn R.W.Kents. Buried Hazbrouck Communial Cemetery Extention 3.F.2 |
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Pte Edgar Percy Randle. Fusiliers Killed 13th Nov 1916 in Battle of the Ancre with 7th Bttn Royal Fusiliers(Royal Naval Division). Buried Ancre British Cemetery, Somme,France.
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Pte William Reeves. Killed 18th September 1918 with 1st Bttn Buffs. Buried Trefcon British Cemetery, France B.12 |
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L/Cpl. Christopher Wicks. MAC. KIA 14-Apr-1918 with the Army Service Corps. Buried St.Pierre Cemetery,Amiens, Somme, France 9.C.1. |
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"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" John xv.13 |
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