Private John Wood

Private John Wood, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium during the Second Battle of Ypres on 26th April 1915, aged 21. He was the son of James and Georgina Wood of 9 Albert Road, Spittal and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the action at St. Julien where the Battalion was supporting an attack by the 4th and 6th Battalions Northumberland Fusiliers. The open ground  was under heavy enemy fire and over 400 casualties were suffered which was about 40% of the Battalion strength. The Battalion had been in France and then Belgium for less than five days. The photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where the Division had fought its first action on 26th April 1915.