THOMAS ARTHUR MACCABEE
100 years ago
March 11 1920
Soldier dies of wounds
The sad death of Sergt. T A Maccabee, second son of Mr and Mrs H Maccabee, of Roseleigh, Wash Common, as the result of shockingly severe injuries sustained whilst serving in France during the war, occurred on March 1st, at the Pavilion General Hospital, Brighton.
Deceased joined the army as a private in the 2/4th Royal Berks Regiment in November, 1914, and was in training at Chelmsford and other camps, until drafted to France in May 1916
Promoted to the rank of sergeant, he was a favourite with his men, and took part in many engagements with the enemy.
Early in 1917 he was gassed and suffered with trench fever, which necessitated a stay in hospital.
He was badly wounded in the battle of Cambrai in December 1917, and lay on the Battlefield for three days and nights with legs shattered by the explosion of a shell
Upon arrival at a dressing station he was found to be suffering from frost-bitten fingers, and upon his removal to the 3rd General Australian Hospital at Abbeville it was found imperative to amputate both legs and seven fingers.
He was transferred to Roehampton to be supplied with artificial limbs. His wounds, however continued to cause pain, and he was sent to the Pavilion Hospital, Brighton, for further operations.
He returned to Roehampton in January n1919, and two months later paid his first visit to Newbury since going abroad.
He was then discharged from the army, but was continually under treatment and early this year again went to Brighton, when two most dangerous operations were performed on February 8th.
His parents remained with him for ten days, when his condition had improved and he seemed out of danger.
On February 27th haemorrhage set in, and the patient collapsed, and his parents were present with him when he passed away.
Deceased had had nineteen operations, all of which he had borne with remarkable patience and fortitude.
His age was 31, and he had four brothers all serving with him in France at the same time.
His body was conveyed to his home on March 3rd and he was buried on Friday afternoon last.
Fourteen men of the Royal Berks Regiment from Reading escorted the funeral cortege from Wash Common to the Baptist Church, Northbrook Street.
The procession returned up Northbrook Street in slow and solemn order, and proceeded to the cemetery in Newtown Road, where six soldiers carried the coffin, covered with the Union Jack
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