John arrived in France on the 26/05/1915. He was originally with the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The 5th (Service) Battalion were part of the 31st Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division. The Battalion landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on the 07/08/1915 (not sure if John went to Gallipoli). The Battalion left the 10th (Irish) Division and moved to France on the 28/05/1918 and transferred to the 198th (East Lancashire) Brigade, 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division at Avoncourt on the 19/07/1918. John Died of Edema of the Lungs and Exposure 12 days after the Armistice. The 48th, 37th and 12th Casualty Clearing Stations were stationed at Busigny. John died in one of these. My information of John's death comes from his Pension Record. See photos for a mention of how John possibly died from Robert Thompson's book Ballymoney Heroes 1914-1918. The Divisions last battle was the Battle of the Selle, 17th - 25th October 1918. This was part of the Final Advance in Picardy, 17th October - 11th November 1918. The hardest fought of the final offensive actions. First, Third and Fourth Armies exploited their success in breaking the Hindenburg Line by pushing on across the Rivers Selle and Sambre, recapturing Valenciennes and finally in liberating Mons where it had all begun for the British Expeditionary Force more than four years before. On the 20th - 21st October the Division was withdrawn and rested in the Serain area until the 1st November. It advanced through Le Cateau from the 2nd November and had some sharp engagements over the next few days. SEE PHOTOS x 43 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY FROM OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1918. John's main grave photo kindly donated by Thierry Dericbourg and John's additional grave photo kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. John is also remembered on the Maxwell Parish Church Roll of Honour x 2 and the Ballymoney War Memorial x 4 (see photos). I personally placed at Poppy at the Ballymoney War Memorial on behalf of his namesake relative John Armour and family. See photos for John's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his name on the Ireland Casualties WW1 list, Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge, John's Pension Records x 2, the Ballymoney Heroes book, John's mention in the book, John's son Henry's Birth Certificate (Henry was born just after his father died), photos of John's wife Jane and his son James. John's Grave Inscription reads "TO DIE IS GAIN". Finally, see photos for the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division Order of Battle x 13 (the Division he was with when he died), Newspaper clipping from the Coatbridge Express 24/04/1918 inserted by Mrs Jane Armour remembering her brother Private Henry McWhinnie, John wife Jane's Birth Certificate, her 2nd Marriage Certificate to James Fraser on the 26/07/1929, Jane's 2nd husband's Death Certificate, her parents Marriage Certificate, her mother Elizabeth's Death Certificate, her father Alexander's Death Certificate, additional grave photo donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves and 2 more grave photos kindly donated by my friend in France, Thierry Dericbourg.
