PRIVATE CHARLES ANDERSON
NORFOLK REGIMENT
19TH APRIL 1917 AGE 19
BURIED: GAZA WAR CEMETERY, ISRAEL
This bitter rail against God is not what we've come to expect from Job who is more usually quoted as having said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord" [Job 1:21]. Here [Job 9:12], Job speaks of the unchallengeable power of God who has made the universe, can move mountains, shake the earth and, if he feels like it, "breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause". Some bible commentators claim that Job is simply speaking of his own unworthiness in relation to God's perfection, and maybe he is, but it feels as though Private Anderson's mother is definitely quoting these lines from Job as a challenge, a complaint against God.
The sense of hostility towards authority is compounded by the fact that Anderson's inscription, which is original and strong, is the only information the family have provided for their son. The War Graves Commission register doesn't have a Christian name for him nor any family information.
Charles Anderson was the son of Charles Anderson, a fisherman 'on his own account' from King's Lynn in Norfolk, and his wife, Fanny. Unusually, under the census heading 'occupation', which almost all women leave blank, Fanny has written 'Home duties'. Private Anderson's medal card shows he was not entitled to the 1914-15 Star so he didn't join the army until 1916 when, aged 18, he would have been conscripted - the Military Service Act having been introduced in January 1916. He served with the 1st/5th Norfolk Regiment in Egypt and Palestine and was killed in action on the opening day of the Second Battle of Gaza when the regiment suffered 75% casualties.