8/4237 Private John Veitch, (30/11/1885-8/5/1918). "no sacrifice to be compared"

VEITCH — On May 8th, died of wounds somewhere in France, John Veitch. (11th Reinforcements), dearly beloved third son of John and Mary A Veitch 103 Highgate, Roslyn in his 33rd year.

No life will ever give what youth is offering us. 

That youth that gives in one moment the days and the years that lay before it. 

There is no sacrifice to be compared with that which they have made.  -Evening Star, 30/5/1918.

PRIVATE JOHN VEITCH. 

Private John Veitch (died of wounds on May 8) was the third son of Mr and Mrs John Veitch, 105 Highgate, Roslyn. John Veitch left with the 11th Reinforcements, and was twice wounded in the fighting during 1916, the first time in July, at Armentieres, and the second time in September at the Somme. He was a native of Jedburgh, Scotland. Before leaving for the front he was employed at the Caversham Brewery. He was a keen soldier, having served eight years with the 4th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers. His elder brother was killed at the Dardanelles, while another, who has been wounded twice, is still serving.  -Evening Star, 30/5/1918.

In May, 1918, John Veitch was serving with the 2nd Entrenching Battalion, which acted as a labour force as wells a pool of infantry replacements when necessary.

The 2nd Battalion, with the 1st and 3rd, were holding the line at Meteren at the height of the German spring offensive when they were surrounded by the advancing enemy and forced to surrender.  Those who surrendered were imprisoned in what became known as "the black hole of Lille," which was described as "a deliberate and calculated form of German torture, intended to break the spirit of prisoners before sending them out to work in gangs."

To be fair, German forces at the time were committing all of their forces to the advance, and every soldier guarding prisoners was one who could not fight his way to Paris.  PoWs were permitted by the Geneva convention to be used as labour behind the lines.  But I, of course, was not at Meteren in 1918. My opinion of the treatment of John Veitch and his fellows is obviously not an informed one.

It is likely that John Veitch was wounded in the fighting before the surrender - which occurred on April 16.  His Army record, unusually, does not note what his fatal wounds were and this is consistent with him dying in captivity with little or no medical aid.

Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.