Military History

Mervyn is listed as dying of wounds on 11th May 1915. He was originally wounded on 27th April 1915 near Ypres. Details of his evacutation chain are shown below.

• 27 Apr 1915 - wounded by gunshot to an arm at Ouderdom and admitted to Advanced Dressing Station
• 27 Apr 1915 - transferred to 3rd Canadian Field Ambulance
• 29 Apr 1915 - transferred to the 14th General Hospital at Wimereux
• 30 Apr 1915 - transferred to the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot

The 1st/4th Battalion war diary entries for the 26th to 28th April are transcribed below.

April 26^th 1915 – Ouderdom: Left Ouderdom at 5.30am and marched via Ypres to St Jean and rendezvoused in a field close by. Dug ourselves in, exposed to heavy shell fire. Very heavy guns were fired by the Germans into Ypres.

At 2pm made an attack in support of the Connaught Rangers, attack unsuccessful owing to poisonous gas being employed by the enemy. Dug ourselves in near the front line of trenches. Capt. Moore wounded. 2 men killed, 10 wounded. Lt. Col. Botterill sprained his ankle, Major Burnett assumed command of the Battalion.

April 27^th 1915 – Ouderdom: At 12 noon sudden orders received to move to the right flank and attack, The battalion in the front line. [sic].

The Regiment gallantly advanced but quite unable to take enemy’s trenches owing to little artillery support  and gases used by the enemy.

Casualties very heavy, 1 Officer killed (Lt Coates) and 7 Officers wounded [including Mervyn]. Other ranks 32 killed, 152 wounded & 13 missing.

Under cover of darkness withdrew to trenches slightly in rear and dug ourselves in. Heavily shelled all night, one machine gun blown to bits by a shell.

April 27^th 1915 – Ouderdom: Remained in same trenches, heavily shelled, some gasses from the shells caused eyes to smart badly and a feeling of exhaustion.