CW60 p66 Family History:Layout 1 29/9/08 15:27 Page 67
culture
John Jose, a wealthy local banker and were well advanced for the Third Battle of wounded.”
businessman who had made his fortune in Ypres, Passchendaele. During the days and Of the other three patrols, casualties
Mexican mining. He is remembered as the weeks leading up to the main onslaught of climbed to: “Other ranks, killed, 20, wounded,
benefactor of the reading rooms and a this battle, sorties were carried out to test the 18, wounded missing, 2, missing, 13.”
contributor to the cost of the Perranwell strength of the enemy across No Man’s Land. The next entry reads: “At 7:30 the fire
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. He was also a One of these on Friday, July 27, was to be ceased….”
great financial supporter of the early Cornish the last for Private 40603 Opie and many of An action that had lasted just two hours
holiday industry, putting money into the his colleagues. resulted in the loss of over 50 men, dead,
building of hotels, many designed by that The officer’s diary for that day records: 1:25 wounded or missing, out of around 100 who
great Cornish architect, Sylvanus Trevail. pm: “a wire was received … to the effect had formed the five patrols.
In 1908, Joseph Opie married Lily that… the enemy were retiring there were no One of the missing was Private 40603 Opie.
Elizabeth Kemp, a local girl and daughter of bodies in force on the west side of Nothing was ever heard of him again and
John Kemp, a farm labourer. This marriage Steenbeek. No action was to be taken till his body was never found.
was blessed with four children, one of who confirming reports have arrived…….” From a childhood in a small Cornish
died as a young girl. “At about 4.30pm confirmation of the above village he had volunteered, like so many
With the outbreak of war in 1914, Joseph report having been received, the order came for others, to fight for his country and his life
Opie was amongst the hundreds of patrols to go and zero hour being 5pm…” was taken in that short two-hour
thousands who left their employment, Subsequent entries detail the composition engagement.
walking the seven miles or so to Falmouth of five patrols of 20 men each under a junior He is remembered, along with thousands
with workmates and village lads to enlist. officer, their objectives and their time of going of others who have no known grave, on the
Joseph was soon to taste action in France, ‘over the top’ into an apparently undefended Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium where, on
where he became Private 51371 of the stretch of No Man’s Land. Panel 35, the names read:
Welsh Regiment. Not a Cornish regiment. The diary continues: “At 5:30, Nos 4 & 5 Nix, J.
Often at this time, new recruits were sent to patrols left our trenches…” Oakley, T.
fill gaps in a variety of regiments where lives “By 6:10, all five patrols engaged in fierce Opie, J.
had been lost and did not necessarily serve action with German snipers in shell holes Pace, F.
with their own county. and other fire from enemy lines”. Page, A.
Joseph was later transferred to the 7th Subsequent entries detail casualties: “2/Lt
Service Battalion of the South Staffordshire Instone, wounded missing, with the As the poem says:
Regiment and became Private 40603 of that stretcher bearers who went to get him in; 8 In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
regiment. killed, 6 wounded, 7 missing.” Between the crosses, row on row
By now it was July 1917, and preparations “2/Lt Rich wounded, one man killed, 3 That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Joseph Opie was loved, felt dawn, saw sunset
glow here in Cornwall. He doubtlessly played
by the small stream which still runs near the
cottage where he spent his childhood years.
He walked the lanes of Perranwell to Chapel
and met his bride there. He saw, only too briefly,
his young children. Had he lived he would have
continued to be loved, not least by his
youngest daughter, my mother.
Soldiers look at the names of the fallen at the Menin Gate War Memorial, Ypres. The remains
Bob Richards, of Cornwall Family Finders, can
of over 90,000 lost Allied soldiers have never been found or identified. The memorial
be contacted at bobr.stkilda@dsl.pipex.com
contains the names of 54,896 officers and men, with many Cornish names among them.
seyth ha tri ugens 67
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