Name
John Bell Nelson (MC)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/09/1918
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
125th Napier’s Rifles
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RAMLEH WAR CEMETERY
R. 39.
Israel and Palestine (including Gaza)
UK & Other Memorials
Royal Masonic School Memorial, Rickmansworth
Pre War
Born on 22 Dec 1893 and baptised on 4 Feb 1894 in Ramsey, Isle of Man son of Charles Banks and Lucy Jane (Hiern) Nelson. Educated at the Royal Masonic School 1903-11. He started his legal training and was reading for the Manx bar.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Sep 1914 in the 9th Royal Lancers and obtained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant, Devon Regiment on 25 Apr 1915 and entered Egypt on 16 Sep 1915. In 1916 he contracted enteric fever in Mesopotamia and convalesced in India and Ceylon. He transferred to the Indian Army in Sep 1917 and served in India for eight months before returning to fight in Palestine. He was awarded the MC in Aug 1918 for a raid on enemy trenches at Arsuf. “By his initiative and good leadership he was chiefly responsible for its success. His frequent reconnaissances of the trenches and the ground at great personal risk contributed greatly to the success of the operation." He was slightly wounded in this action but returned on 15 Sep 1918 to fight in the Battle of Samaria where he was mortally wounded while trying to rescue a fellow officer and died two days later in Tul Keram.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Old Masonians Association
