Soldier Record

John William of the 7th Battn Royal Sussex Regiment was my grandamother's husband's brother about whom we know little beyond a photograph in uniform and his medals. My grandparents died off throughout the 1960s and late 70s, leaving a silence about these areas. My few questions to my grandmother as a child were matched by silence.

John William Ansell was killed on 26th March 1918 in the chaos of the German army breakthrough

There is a family resemeblance in the photo and John William looks young - we have no birth date yet found. I've found out more from the Regimental Museum about March 1918 but he is not even named in the days war diary just another or other ranks killed defending Aveluy Wood in the German breakthrough, another or being part of the anonymity of this war. No known grave and a listing on the Pozieres memorial and the Regimental memorial.