WW1 Medal Pair to Nash MGC – KIA 1st Day Passchendaele.

A poignant British war and victory medal pair correctly named to 46308 Acting Corporal Henry Albert Nash Machine Gun Corps.
Henry Nash was born Walthamstow Essex on 2nd May 1884; his father Joseph was a steam engine fitter; Henry was one of seven children and he married May at St Pancras church in 1904. Before the war he had a good job working as an accountant for an insurance broker and lived with his wife and two children in Seven Kings, Essex. It is hard to know if Henry was serving in the territorials before the war, but his first regiment is listed as the London regiment with service number 3799, but he arrived on the western front with the 123rd Company MGC.
123rd Machine Gun Company joined, 123rd Brigade, 41st Division in May 1916. They fought in action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and the Battle of the Transloy Ridges on the Somme. In 1917 they fought during The Battle of Messines, but it was at the Battle of Pilkem Ridge, where we turn our attention.
The British attack began at 3:50 a.m. on 31st July 1917, the attack was meant to start at dawn but low cloud meant that it was still dark when the infantry was ready to attack. The main attack, by II Corps was across the Ghelveult Plateau to the south, which confronted the principal German defensive concentration of artillery and ground-holding divisions. The attack had most success on the northern flank, on the fronts of XIV Corps and the French First Army, both of which advanced to the line of the Steenbeek river. In the centre, XVIII Corps and XIX Corps including the 41st Division, pushed forward to the line of the Steenbeek Group Ypres, which was counter-attacking the flanks of the British break through, supported by every artillery piece and aircraft within range. The Germans were able to drive the three British brigades back with 70 per cent casualties; the German advance was hindered by mud, artillery and machine-gun fire.
It was on the first day of the battle that henry was killed; his Wife May Nash received a letter from his commanding officer Lieutenant F. L. Shaw, which read. “Dear Mrs Nash. I am sorry I have to inform you of the death of your husband Corporal H Nash, in action on the 31st July. I wasn’t with the men at the time as Mr Jarratt, my sub-section officer took the men over in the attack, But I have heard what happened. We were attacking just north of the Ypres Canal. Your husband was in charge of No 2 section. It was necessary to mount the gun of a railway embankment in face of machine gun fire from the Germans. Two of the men took the gun up to mount it, but they had no sooner they got to the top they fell back wounded. At once Corporal Nash jumped up to finish their work and was immediately shot through the head. Death was Instantaneous. I cannot speak too highly of your husband. From the first I recognised his worth, and I think it was because of my influence that he got promoted corporal. He certainly would have been Sergeant in a short time if he had only lived. He was always very cool in danger and was very tactful with the men, in fact a born leader. His action when he was killed showed his absolute fearlessness. The sympathy of the officers and men of the company are with you in your loss. If I can answer any further question’s I would be only too glad to do so. Believe me, yours truly. F. L Shaw Liuet.”
Lance Corporal Henry Albert Nash is now remembered with honour at Oxford Road Cemetery, Belgium. He was 33 years old.
The Oxford Road Cemetery is probably one of the most saddest on the western front. It was used by the units fighting in the area from August 1917. Plots II, III and IV were added when scattered graves from the battlefields east and south-east of Ypres were brought into the cemetery. Henry has a named headstone, but he sits in a sea of graves to Unknown British Soldiers, which in many ways shows the abject horror of Passchendaele.
What an extremely brave man, his service and gallantry gone unrecognised for well over one hundred years, surely, he deserved a meritorious service medal for his actions, at least.
His medal pair are in very original condition, and they come with a large quantity of research and copied paperwork, confirming the above and more.

Code: 30896