1st Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (British Army)
Died:
23/03/1918 (Killed in Action)
Age:
Summary
John McVeigh was born at Ardboe, County Tyrone. He enlisted in Ballymena while his family were living in Draperstown. John was reported killed in action on 23rd March 1918, two days after the start of the German Spring Offensive. The morning of the 23rd March was again foggy and soon after dawn the enemy captured Ham and advanced on Brouchy, to the rear of the position held by the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Pozieres is a village 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert. The Memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery which is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road, D929, from Albert to Pozieres. On the road frontage is an open arcade terminated by small buildings and broken in the middle by the entrance and gates. Along the sides and the back, stone tablets are fixed in the stone rubble walls bearing the names of the dead grouped under their Regiments. It should be added that, although the memorial stands in a cemetery of largely Australian graves, it does not bear any Australian names. The Australian soldiers who fell in France and whose graves are not known are commemorated on the National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
