JOHNSON Joseph

Mentioned in Despatches.  Wesleyan Local Preacher.

Joseph Johnson lived in a house named ‘The Poplars’ in Littleworth (near the Parish Hall) from his birth in 1885.  He later married Esther.

During his training period at Norton Barracks in August 1914 he wrote some fascinating history of life as a trainee soldier.  He continued to write home whilst he was at the front in France.

10th August 1914
…the medical officer is here inoculating all the men against Typhoid.  The men seem to be getting restless and want to be off or to be finished.  There is great difficulty in accommodating the troops, there are so many of them…

23rd September 1914
…I was hit in the calf of the right leg with a piece of shell which burst over the trenches, but am able to do my duties.  Another piece passed my breast taking a piece out of my coat and cutting the button clear in two, but it never touched my flesh.

24th September 1914
…the morning is just beautiful, the sun is shining in all its glory but is marred by the sound of distant guns… we were relieved out of the trenches last Monday.  Sgt. Williams and I held a meeting… how heartily the men joined in singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Have you any room for Jesus”.

15th October 1914
…we were attacking the enemy to capture a village.  My Captain (Elliot) was killed and also my rival runner Private Styler.  We were running across a ploughed field and the last words I said to Styler were, “come on Styler 220 yards to go”… 15 of us stayed behind and buried the Captain erecting a small wooden cross at the foot of the grave.
It is really heartbreaking to see the battlefield after the battles, strewn with dead bodies and wounded and to see terrible wounds they received… the cries of one poor German who lay all night in the wood wounded, went right through me.  Even as I right this letter the guns are spreading death and destruction all around and since we arrived at Mons we have not been out of the sound of guns.  Today we lost our General Hamilton.

19th October 1914
…you will be glad to know that my name has been sent to the War Office recommending me for ‘service in the field’, but you know I do not deserve it… it was whilst in the trenches at a place called Vailley that the incident occurred.  We were attacked by the enemy in overwhelming numbers and were forced back for a while but I was left with 7 men in the trench and could not get away on the account that the army was shelling us… it was here that I caught a piece of shell in the leg.  As soon as the shelling stopped I got the 7 men safely back to our lines.  So you see it was a necessity.

Relatives of Sergeant Joseph Johnson still live in Littleworth.