Lance Sergeant Andrew Piercy

Lance Sergeant Andrew Piercy, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in Belgium on 31st December 1917, aged 26 and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He was the son of John and Isabella Piercy of 216 Main Street, Spittal. On 28th December  the Battalion relieved the Yorks and Lancaster Regiment and moved into front line trenches near Passendaele in the Ypres Salient. Between 28th and 31st December the Battalion had 1 Officer wounded with 12 Other Ranks killed and a further 23 Other Ranks wounded. Most of these casualties were caused by shellfire. The photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was transferred to the 42nd ( East Lancashire) Division for lines of communication duties. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby on 26th April the division fought its first action of the War at St. Julien only days after landing on the Continent.

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