Honouring a fallen war hero

Ninety-six years ago this week Lieutenant John Harold Pritchard made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

The 31-year-old soldier died amid the mud and machine-gun fire at the Battle of Bullecourt in France on May 15, 1917.

His body lay undiscovered until 2009 when it was unearthed by a farmer, along with the remains of three other servicemen, in a field in northern France.

Last month the four men were finally laid to rest with full military honours and Lt Pritchard’s Bermudian family joined other relatives in France to remember the fallen heroes.

His great niece, Karen Pollard, told the Bermuda Sun: “For me it was a life-changing experience.

“Being at the service with my husband, Martin, my son, Christian and other relatives affected me quite deeply.

“I’m still moved by it now several weeks later and I did not think it would have that effect on me.

“It was a very emotional service, there was not a dry eye in the house by the end of it.

“And when they played the Last Post there was the most incredible silence and sense of stillness afterwards.

“I wanted to be there for my family, for my father who died 10 years ago.

“I know he would have been deeply moved and I can still remember as a child my grandmother talking very fondly about her brother John Harold.”

Mrs Pollard and her family travelled from their home in Bermuda to France to attend the burial of her great uncle, which took place at a war cemetery in Ecoust-St-Mein on St George’s Day.

They were joined by dozens of Lt Pritchard’s great nephews and nieces as well as his 89-year-old nephew.

Mrs Pollard added: “I have a new respect for the Army and understand much better the sense of comradeship and loyalty there must have been when my great uncle died all that time
ago.

“The way the Honourable Artillery Company conducted the event was unbelievable.

“There was so much dignity and respect for tradition you could not be helped but be deeply moved by the way it was done.

“I just wish John Harold’s mother could have been there to see it.”

Lt Pritchard was buried alongside Private Christopher Douglas Elphick and two other unknown servicemen.

The soldiers, who served with the 2nd Battalion the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), died when the Germans tried to regain the village of Bullecourt.

Lt Pritchard grew up from Wandsworth, southwest London, and had sung as a chorister at King Edward VII’s coronation in 1902.

The unmarried insurance inspector joined the HAC in 1909 and survived the Battle of the Somme and a gunshot wound before being cut down at Bullecourt.

The remains of the four soldiers were found in 2009 by farmer Didier Guerle who came across a canister and a boot with his metal detector in his field.

Lt Pritchard was identified by a silver identity bracelet. n