Gunner Joseph Michiels

Gunner Joseph Michiels, Belgian Field Artillery. He died on Active Service, aged 19, in France on the 14th October 1918. Hew had been born in Diksmuide, Belgium in 1899 and was the son of Benjamin and Pharailde Michiels of Oxton Villa, Selkirk. The Family had come to Selkirk in 1914 from Nieuport in Belgium after the German invasion in 1914. He had been educated at Selkirk High School and became one of the Head Boys. He was in training as a teacher when he enlisted in the Belgian Artillery. He went to the front line but after only 3 weeks he contracted influenza and died from pneumonia in a French Hospital near Calais. He is buried in Nieuwpoort Brugsesteenweg Municipal Cemetery, Nieuport, Belgium.

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