Private John Gibson

Private John Henry Gibson, 8th ( Service ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France on 25th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. The photograph shows a recently captured trench on the Somme with the chalk soil of the Region very evident. The autumn rains turned the ground into a glutinous quagmire which made movement very difficult for men and machines as can be seen in the photographs. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.