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WORLD WAR ONE
The Men Who Died
WORLD WAR ONE
Percy was born in Exeter, Devon, about 1895, and was the son of John and Ellen Elizabeth Coombe. The 1901 Census shows the family living in Swansea, South Wales, where his father was a gas fitter. Later they moved to 10 Dainter Street, Brecon, where the family, with eight other children, are shown on the 1911 Census, with Percy age 16 years working as an errand boy. His parents later moved to 2, North Road, Brecon.
Percy joined the South Wales Borderers, Brecknockshire Battalion, and served as a
On August 5th, 1914, he was called to rejoin the army and proceeded with the British Expeditionary Force to France, under General Grierson. He was in several engagements including Mons before receiving his fatal injury, when he was shot through the lungs and died shortly afterwards. He was buried by a comrade who had been at school with him, who was subsequently taken prisoner by the Germans the next day.
Private Percy Alexander Coombe
1st Brecknock Battalion, South Wales Borderers, service no.
1781
Killed in action July 4th, 1915, aged 20
Buried near Aden; Commemorated Heliopolis (Aden)
Memorial
Private. He went with the Brecknocks to Aden and apparently arriving there on July 3rd, 1915, and was one of a number of the battalion to die the next day (see separate account)⁹.
He is buried near Aden and remembered on the Heliopolis (Aden) Memorial, Egypt.
