PRIVATE JOHN GILBERT GILL
ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS
18TH AUGUST 1917 AGE 21
BURIED: BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY NO. 3, BELGIUM
"Gibbie", Private John Gilbert Gill, served with the 4th London Divisional Field Ambulance and was killed in action on 8 August 1917. His father signed for his inscription, quoting his son's own words; words that will have summarised what motivated hundreds and thousands of other young men - their duty.
Gill had been a clerk in a felt factory before the war. He volunteered in March 1915, which meant that he volunteered to do his duty rather than that he was conscripted to do it. Some RAMC men were conscientious objectors who accepted non-combatant work in the RAMC but this would seem to be unlikely in Gill's case. And even if this was the case, service with the RAMC did not keep you out of danger.