A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS !

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A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS !








AN INTERESTING, SCARCE & EXTREMELY UNUSUAL
1st ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT "CASUALTY" 1914-1915 TRIO.

To:
7736. L/Cpl John Becker. 1st Royal Irish Regiment.

SEVERELY WOUNDED IN ACTION
(Gassed at Bellewaarde) 24th May 1915
DIED OF WOUNDS, TIPPERARY HOSPITAL, 1st JUNE 1917
Declared Age of 36, but actually 47.


[BIOGRAPHY, A BRAVE MAN WHO LIED ABOUT HIS AGE]
John Becker was actually born in 1870 and from about 1890 was the husband of Mrs Jane Becker of 96 POLLERTON Road, Carlow, Ireland.

[PREVIOUS "UNDECLARED" BRITISH ARMY SERVICE]
Because John Becker's WW1 attestation papers of 1914/15 have not survived there were originally some gaps in our knowledge of his early pre-war life, but via some talented research by our team we have managed to find out more about him.

Firstly, it had turned out that John was in fact 11 years older than the age he clearly declared at the time of his 1914/15 enlistment into the 1st Royal Irish Regiment. His official commonwealth war graves headstone gives his age as 36 in 1917 so he must have declared himself as 34 in 1915.

Secondly we have discovered that he had already previously served twice in the British military prior to the Great War.

Indeed, due to the discovery of his previous enlistment papers it's clear that he had, prior to 1908 first served with the 8th Bn Kings Royal Rifle Brigade and had then re-enlisted as 4663 into The 3rd Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers (Special Reserve) on 4th February 1908 at age 37, where he had served for a period of four years and where he was medically examined on 31st January 1908 at a declared age of 38. He was then discharged "Termination of Engagement" on 12th February 1909 age 38

This is provably the same 'John Becker' because on these earlier Royal Dublin Fusiliers attestation papers of 13th February 1905 his wife's name and address was the same as it was at his time of attestation into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1914 /15. ."Mrs Jane Becker, Pollerton Road, Carlow"

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! [POLLERTON ROAD ,CARLOW IN 1926]

Upon the declaration of war in 1914 very many Irish nationals enlisted into the British army and quite certainly due to many of his then neighbours in Pollerton Road also going to sign up for the Great War he is again seen joining the British Army at a "greatly and incorrectly" (11 years under-declared) age of 33 when in fact it's quite clear from his original declaration of being 35 in 1905 that he was in fact 45 in 1915 and was therefore actually 45 when he was wounded in France and 47 when he died in hospital in Tipperary in 1917.....not 36 as declared on his gravestone.

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! [WORLD WAR ONE SERVICE]
He arrived in France on 11th May 1915 with 1st Royal Irish Regt but his medal index card incorrectly records him as going to the Balkans (Theatre 2) but this was corrected on the medal roll to record his correct theatre as France (1)

His unit did eventually go to the Balkans but not until 28th November 1915 by which time John Becker was back in Ireland having been seriously wounded (probably gassed) while fighting with 2nd Royal Irish Regt at the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge.

John's medals have come to us from a member of his family who well remembers the family story of him being "wounded very early on" during his first action in France (almost certainly at Bellewaarde Lake). In fact he had only been in France 13 days when he was wounded. The family further remembered him then being sent "very quickly home" to Ireland where he "hung on for two years" before succumbing to his wounds in Tipperary hospital on 1st June 1917. His surviving papers indeed confirm his place of death as Tipperary hospital so I think we can safely assume that the rest of the family story is also pretty accurate.

[BATTLE OF BELLEWAARDE RIDGE] 24th May 1915
Location: Bellewaarde Lake. German victory. On the 24th May 1915, the German army staged a widespread gas and infantry attack on 84th Infantry Brigade of 28th Division, holding a sector of V Corps front between the Menin Road and Mouse Trap Farm on Bellewaarde Ridge.

27th Division in V Corps Reserve sent 80th Infantry Brigade forward to assist in recapturing the trenches and the two brigades staged a joint night counter-attack on positions close to Bellewaarde Lake around 23.00pm. This joint night counter-attack was undertaken in bright moonlight and was a disaster with both 84th and 80th Brigades suffering heavy casualties.

This was the final action of the 2nd Battle of Ypres.

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! John Becker is commemorated with honour and is buried with a Commonwealth War Grave headstone at St Mary's Cemetery, Carlow, Eire

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS ! [THE BLOODBATH AT MOUSE TRAP FARM]
The fighting around Mouse Trap Farm on the 24th/25th May was pretty horrific. The 2nd Royal Irish Regiment and the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers defended the area around the Farm and took awful casualties. The Dubliners sustained something in the region of 647 casualties out of 668 men who had been in the line when the attack commenced in the early hours of the morning of the 24th May. Only the Adjt, Captain Linky and 20 men got away at the end of the battle. Both battalions lost their CO's that day and it is worthy of note that it was this action that killed Pte John Condon, aged 14 years who was with the 2nd Royal Irish. There is a book on the Mouse Trap Farm action by Tom Murphy. It's called "The 2nd battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and The Tradgedy of Mouse Trap Farm April and May 1915" Another book which covers the action on Bellewaarde Ridge on the 24th and 25th May is John Dixons "Magnificent but not War".

A RARE

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio. 7736. L/Cpl J.Becker.1/Royal Irish Rgt.BADLY WOUNDED (GASSED) BELLEWAARDE, 24.5.15. D.O.W. 1.6.17. Buried,Carlow Cemetery, Eire.UNDER DECLARED AGE BY 11 YEARS !
£SOLD

A RARE "IRISH" 1914-15 Star "Casualty" Trio.To: 7736. L/Cpl John Becker. 1st Royal Irish Regiment. SEVERELY WOUNDED, BELLEWAARDE, 24th May 1915 DIED OF WOUNDS 1st JUNE 1917. Buried At Carlow (St Mary's) Cemetery, Carlow, Eire.