Private John Mason

Private John Robson Mason, 1st/4th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France during the German Spring Offensive on the River Lys on 10th April 1918, aged 18. He was the son of William and Isabella Mason of Etal Boathouse, Etal, Cornhill-on-Tweed and is buried in Aval Wood Military Cemetery, Vieux Berquin, France. He had enlisted in 1917 aged 18. The photographs show Allied troops in defensive positions preparing to resist the oncoming Germans. The colour photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until July 1918 when it was reduced to cadre and assigned to lines of communication duties. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby at St. Julien the Division had fought its first action of the War on 26th April 1915 only days after landing on the Continent.