Lance Corporal James Heyes   22279

11th South Lancashire Regiment

Lived at Coal Pit Lane Farm, Coal pit Lane Bickerstaffe, Volunteered and joined the St Helens ‘Pals’ in the 11^th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment. His Parents were James and Esther Heyes, for whom he worked and was the elder brother of Alfred.

Whilst partaking in the Somme Offensive in July 1916. James had a lucky escape when a fragment of shrapnel hit him on his breast pocket. This contained a notebook, which was shattered, saving him from serious injury.

A year later on the 26^th of June 1917, James was on stretcher duties at the railway embankment east of Ypres, when he was caught in a heavy artillery bombardment.

One of his friends wrote to his parents describing him as one of the finest men in the Battalion and was beloved by everybody.

He is interred in plot 3 row G, grave 21, of Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Belgium, having died at the age of 31. This can be found on the N34, just south of Poperinghe.

Lance Corporal James Heyes was almost certainly on stretcher duties in the railway cutting on the infamous 'Hill 60'. This lies South East of Ypres and is a preserved area in memory of the many battles which took place there during the great war. Well worth a visit, there is a private museum on the site.