Lives of the First World War

known 12th October 1916

ST. JOHN'S, WROXALL, PARISH MAGAZINE December 1916 How he Fell. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hearn, of "Clevelands," have received the following letter from a brother officer of second-Lieut. John Stanley Hearn, B.A., Sussex Regiment, who was killed in action on Oct. 12. We insert it with pride. "It is with great sorrow I write to let you know particulars of your son's death. First let me say, as Scott said of Oates, 'He was a gallant gentleman.' He was more than that. For perfect bravery his was one of the best deeds I have yet heard of. What happened was that we attacked, and he was one of the few officers (if not the only one) out of 17 to gain the German line. He immediately set to work to make it secure, and saw the weak spot was the left flank, which was in the air, so to speak, and was not connected up with the battalion on our left. He sent two men over to try and get in touch with them, and saw them shot in front of him. So he immediately tried the same task himself, oblivious of the danger and quite cool and collected. He was shot through the head - and died instantaneously and painlessly - when half way across. The machine guns were very thick ... John was quite cheery before the attack, and his death is a great loss to the battalion. The men were telling me yesterday that they wished they had him back, as he was very popular with all ranks."

Created by: , Geoffrey575