HERBERT DYMER
Great Uncle Herb enlisted in the British Army at Salisbury, and joined the 40th Division. This Division was formed in September 1915, and was known as a 'bantam' Division, as it included men who were under regulation height.
Herbert was posted to B Battery of the 181st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. The Division arrived in France in June 1916 and served in France and Flanders until the Armistice. The Division fought in the Battle of the Ancre in November, 1916 and was engaged in the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March and April 1917.
Herbert met his death on 27 July, 1917 at Gourzecourt, France during the German retreat. A letter received by his widow, Mabel, is available for you to read.
He is buried at Fins New British Cemetery at Sorel-le-Grand, Somme, France (grave reference number I.E.9). I hope to visit him there in 2001.
Below is a poem - published at the time of his death - dedicated to Herbert Dymer.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF DEAR HERB, who was killed at Gourzecourt, France,
July 27th, 1917.
FORGET not him that died, When peace shall reign once more;
Remember still that lonely grave Beyond some foreign shore,
Not marked by marble cross - May be, not marked at all -
Just buried 'neath the grass-grown sod, In the place they saw him fall.
That death that came too soon, With manhood just won,
He lost his all, and in his fall, A mother lost her son,
Also a wife and children mourn, For a presence that cannot be,
And hope is buried in that grave, In the land beyond the sea.
So when the joyous sounds proclaim The day that heralds peace,
Just think of those who mourn alone, And from your feasting cease,
Turn from that joyous crowd To a home with a vacant chair,
And help the widowed, and fatherless, Their weighted cross to bear.
He lies not in his native land, But under a foreign sky;
Far from those who loved him best, But a hero's death he died.