A Collection of Medals to the 13th Regiment and Somerset Light Infantry

Three: 2nd Lieutenant A. P. Bower, Somerset Light Infantry, late Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who was killed in action in the Battle of Valenciennes in November 1918

1914-15 Star (1017 Pte., R. War. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.), good very fine (3) £250-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 13th Regiment and Somerset Light Infantry.

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Alfred Percy Bower was killed in action at Preseau on 1 November 1918, while serving in the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry during the Battle of Valenciennes; his death is mentioned in the published diary of Sergeant-Major A. H. Cook, D.C.M., M.M.:

‘Soon we came into contact with the enemy, who made himself unpleasant now the barrage had passed over him ... we had to go on and get them before they got us. One of the first to go down was Captain Osborne, right in the stomach, a nasty place to be hit. Down he went and down went the company, opening up a withering fire on the enemy. But they were under cover and we were in the open. The Captain was sitting up a few yards from me, obviously in great pain. He took something from his pocket and swallowed it. 2nd Lieutenant Bower who, I believe, was in action for the first time, ran across to the Captain, but a bullet got him and he dropped dead at the Captain’s side. My only remaining officer, 2nd Lieutenant Harrison was beside me and about to dash forward and repeat Mr. Bower’s action. It would have been certain death and I told him to stay where he was till we got the line going again ...’

Bower is believed to have been the last Officer fatality suffered by the Battalion in the Great War.

Born at All Saints, Birmingham, he had originally enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in September 1914, aged 21 years, and been posted to the 14th Battalion (the 2nd “Birmingham Pals”). Active service in France followed from November 1915 until July 1916, and, after an extended period back in the U.K., from November 1916 until February 1917, following which he had been posted to an Officer Cadet Battalion. Bower was duly commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry and returned to France on attachment to the 1st Battalion in May 1918. He was interred in Preseau Communal Cemetery Extension, S.E. of Valenciennes.