The John Brothers of Penmaen

The tragedy of the Somme Campaign fell heavily upon the John family of 2 Penmain Villas, Penmaen. In the autumn of 1916, Thomas and Rachel John would lose two of their sons to the relentless grind of the Western Front, both falling within mere months of each other.
John Richard John Portrait Placeholder
John R. John
Age: 23
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regtl. No.: 13208
Regiment: 1st Bn South Wales Borderers
Somme Campaign
John Richard, the oldest son and a coal miner, served with the 1st Division. On the hot afternoon of September 8, 1916, his company was working to construct a new front trench near the village of Vermelles. Hindered by heavy German machine-gun fire, Lance Corporal John was killed in action at the age of 23. With no known grave, he is commemorated on the towering Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. ►  View John's full profile...
William Charles John Portrait Placeholder
William C. John
Age: 22
Rank: Private
Regtl. No.: 3137
Regiment: 1/2nd Bn Monmouth
Somme Campaign
William Charles, the second son, arrived in France in May 1915. His pioneer battalion endured the brutal, waterlogged conditions of the Somme south-west of Bapaume. On November 23, 1916, whilst building frontline trenches in a freezing morass of mud under sporadic enemy shelling, 22-year-old Private John was killed in action. He rests at the A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers, Somme.
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Though they fell months apart in 1916 — one in the dying heat of late summer, the other in the freezing mud of winter—both brothers perished in the Somme sector. Today, their names are etched together on the Battalion Memorial at St Cadoc's Church, Trevethin — a solemn reminder of a family fractured by the War to End All Wars.