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for John Bates Pyle was 10 Institute Terrace,
Ouston, Birtley in County.Durham. He enlisted
in the army at Chester-le- Street
(Co Durham) on the 1st of May 1917 and
trained with the 5th Training
Reserve Battalion at Rugeley Camp (Staffordshire).
On completion of training Pte Pyle was
posted to the 3rd Battalion Northumberland
Fusiliers at East Bolden (Co Durham) on
the 23rd of Nov 1917. On the 30th of March
1918 John was drafted to the 4th Battalion
Northumberland Fusiliers, who at this time
were fighting a rearguard action in the Battle
of Rosieres. It is highly likely that
Pte Pyle was one of the draft of 250 men,
under the command of Capt Robson, that
reported for duty on the 5th of April,
just in time for the Battle
of Estaires.
On the 12th April
1918, whilst withdrawing with his unit
through a field of young corn, John was
hit twice by rifle or machine gun fire.
One bullet entered his leg and fractured
his femur, the other his right hand.
He had the good fortune to be carried
to safety by an Irish soldier and was
evacuated from the battlefield tied to
a gun limber.
John appears to have
been taken to the 39th
Stationary Hospital and 7th
Canadian General Hospital in the town
of Aire, but by the
15th of April 1918 he had been transferred
to the  26th
General Hospital at Etaples. The hospital was
bombed on Whitsuntide Sunday and during
the course of the next 14 days. By the
3rd of June1918 he had been transferred
to the London Military
Orthopaedic Hospital at Shepherds Bush.
John
was discharged as permanently unfit on
the 29th of April 1919 and went on to work
for most of his life as a mining
pump engineer in the Ouston area. He was
in his 90's when he died in 1992.
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