Name
John Burns
1921
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (HEATH LANE) CEMETERY
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials
Pre War
John Burns was born in about 1889 but it is not known where and it has therefore been impossible to locate him on census records.
The fact that he enlisted into the Bedfordshire Regiment suggests that he may have been working locally at the outbreak of war.
Wartime Service
He enlisted on 1 September 1914 and served with the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in France from 29 December 1915 under Reg. No. 16971.
He was injured, losing a leg, an eye and suffering other facial injuries. He was discharged on 23 May 1917 and awarded Silver Badge no. B.147224 on 3 March 1919.
His address was given as HCC Hospital, Ware, Herts on medal index card.
He died in June 1921 at the Pensions Hospital, Ruskin Park, Denmark Hill, London, (otherwise known as the Maudsley Hospital) aged 32 and was buried in Heath Lane Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead on 22 June 1921, in plot YC11 Unconsecrated - Roman Catholic.
Additional Information
Not found on CWGC records as he was discharged in 1917. A local newspaper, the Gazette, reported his death and commented "We wonder if it is not possible to include such names as Wiseman, Beckwith and now Burns on the [Hemel Hempstead] memorial cross - what is the difference in their sacrifice!
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.dacorum,heritage.org.uk, www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk., www.findagrave.com., www.hemelheroes.com.
