Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Private Robert Walls
Date Information
01/05/2020 02306
16/02/2019
16/02/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 9th November 1918:
16/02/2019 WALLS – Killed in action on 24th August 1918, Private Robert Walls, No 24260, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the beloved son of Mrs Walls, Bridge Street, Moneymore, aged 29 years.
16/02/2019 ‘He fell at his post like a soldier brave,
16/02/2019 He answered his Master’s call;
16/02/2019 He sleeps far away in a hero’s grave,
16/02/2019 ‘I was holding a wood on 24th August, with my own platoon and No 13 Platoon as well. Altogether there were less than thirty of us, and that nigh the Germans attacked the wood with a party of nearly 100 men. We did not lose the wood, but from that action I brought out of my own platoon five men, and out of the No 13 Platoon, six men. Your son was at first posed as missing, but a couple of days later we drove the Germans back about two miles, and when my Company Commander went over the ground in front of the wood, he found you son’s body. He has been buried outside that wood and a cross has been erected over his grave. Unfortunately I a\m not permitted to tell you the name of the wood, but some day you will be told. I will say your son was one of the best soldiers in our company, one whom I could trust implicitly to perform any duty he was given to do, and both the Company Commander and Sergeant Major speak of him being one of the most reliable and trustworthy men in the company. I know this will be hard news for you to bear, but the only comfort I can give you is that he died as a good soldier should, and believe me I am proud to have had a man like him under my command. We forwarded his effects to the War Office who will send them on to you.’
16/02/2019 Ever remembered by his loving mother, sisters, brother, and brother-in-law.
16/02/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 9th November 1918: Moneymore
16/02/2019
16/02/2019 In a letter to Mrs Walls, Bridge Street, informing her of the death in action of her son, Private Robert Walls, Royal Inniskillings, an officer says:-
16/02/2019 For his country’s cause he did fall.’
12/02/2019 Mrs Walls, Bridge Street, has received official notification that her son, Robert, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, has been killed in action. The deceased had been wounded and in hospital some months ago, and had gone back to his regiment. Much sympathy is felt for the bereaved mother and family.
12/02/2019
12/02/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 24th October 1918:
09/04/2017 The 1901 census lists Robert as age 9, living with the family at house 4 in Ballyguirk, Loop, County Londonderry. His father was a labourer.
09/04/2017
09/04/2017 Private Robert Walls, Inniskillings, son of Mrs Walls, Bridge Street, Moneymore, has been killed in action.
09/04/2017 Robert Walls was the eldest son of John and Bridget Walls. Robert Walls married Bridget Kane about 1888.
09/04/2017 Robert Walls was born on 2nd June 1891 in Ballyrogully, Loup, Moneymore, County Londonderry. He was one of six children, five surviving.
09/04/2017 Robert had an older brother, Thomas Walls, but he died in 1898, aged just eight.
09/04/2017 Family: John Walls, Bridget Walls, Mary Walls (born 25th June 1887), Thomas Walls (born 1st February 1890, died 16th July 1898)) , Robert Walls (born 2nd June 1891), Henry Walls (born 30th June 1893), Eliza J Walls (born 9th June 1895), Thomas J Walls (born 18th June 1899).
09/04/2017 From the Belfast Newsletter dated 26th October 1918:
09/04/2017 The 1911 census lists Robert as age 18, living with the family at house 3 in Bridge Street, Moneymore. Both Robert and his father were agricultural labourers.
09/04/2017 Robert Walls enlisted in Moneymore.
09/04/2017 Private Robert Walls served during most of the battles of the First World War after the spring of 1916.
09/04/2017 On 23rd August 1917, the 7th and 8th (service) Battalions of Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were amalgamated to form the 7th/8th Battalion. This was due to the fact that both Battalions had suffered serious casualties over the past year and in particular in The Battle of Langemarck. It was becoming ever more difficult to find recruits for these two Battalions.
09/04/2017 Private Robert Walls spent another year serving with the 7th/8th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers before he was killed in action in Belgium on Saturday 24th August 1918.
09/04/2017 Private R Walls has no known grave and Robert is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
09/04/2017 The CWGC record Private Robert Walls as the son of Bridget Walls of Moneymore, County Derry, and also of the late John Walls.
09/04/2017 Private Robert Walls is also commemorated on Moneymore War Memorial.
30/12/2015
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