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WORLD WAR ONE

The Men Who Died

WORLD WAR ONE

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1888. They lived at 18, Charles Street, Brecon. Her father was also in the South Wales Borderers, ex Sergeant Major Hooton who had served in the Zulu campaign of 1879 and was one of the most respected townsmen. At the time of their marriage Willie was a sergeant living at the Barracks in Aldershot and by the 1911 census he was age 32 and a colour sergeant in the South Wales Borderers living in the barracks in Bradford.

At the outbreak of war Willie was with the 2nd Battalion in Tientsin, China, and participated with the Japanese army in the capture of Tsing-Tau. On return from China he was given his commission and left for the Dardanelles in early 1915. In the landing operations at Gallipoli in May 1915 he was severely wounded. He was mentioned in despatches for distinguished service and devotion to duty in the field. Upon his recovery he went to France where he spent some time as an instructor. In April 1916 he was with the battalion in reserve at Louvencourt but after the disastrous July 1st attack at Beaumont-Hamel in the Somme, the battalion was reorganised into two companies with Willie Ross being in command of one of these.

A year later, the battalion was in Flanders, and on 15 August moved up into front-line trenches just north of Pilckem. An attack towards Langemarck next day saw Lieutenant (now Captain) Ross lead his D Company once more into action. At 4.45 am, the whole battalion climbed out of their trenches and began to move forward, a slow advance through swamps - which would see men struggling up to their waists in mud and slime - C and D Companies are noted in the Battalion War Diary as being particularly bothered by machine guns firing from two strongly-held German positions - Champaubert and Montmirail Farms. Pressing on, and with the help of French artillery,

Captain Willie Ross

South Wales Borderers 2nd Battalion, service no. 6082

Killed in Action 8th August 1917, aged 38

Commemorated at Artillery Wood Cemetery, Belgium

then warrant officer, lieutenant and captain.

His service records show the he had been in the South Wales Borderers during the 2nd Boer War in South Africa and received the South Africa Medal with the Cape Colony and Orange Free State Clasps.

Willie was stationed at the depot in Brecon for a long time and was well known in the town. He married Mary Caroline Victoria Hooton in Brecon on 28th September 1907 in St Mary’s Church. She was the daughter of Samuel and Margaret Hooton and was born in Brecon in

Willie was born and baptised in September 1879 in Bradford, Yorkshire. He was the second child of William and Ann Ross. William,

his father, worked as a dyer’s labourer and later a dyer's finisher. The family had moved to Bramley by 1891 but William continued in the same trade.

By 1901 Willie has left home and has joined the south Wales Borderers as a young man and by dint of good soldiering rose from the ranks to become a captain. He was promoted to company sergeant major in early 1915,