53742: Letter to Evelyn concerning death of Douglas Aplin

In Memory of Lance Corporal Douglas Aplin

Douglas George Bartlett Aplin was born on 13th December 1895 in Durston, Somerset, and was the third child and first son for George Aplin and Jane (nee Bartlett).

Douglas Aplin (service number 11537) joined the British Army late 1914, or early 1915.

He served with the 15th (The King's) Hussars in France as a Cavalry Soldier, and fought in various battles, including the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Douglas was promoted to Lance Corporal in 1916, and was put in charge of a machine gun team.

Douglas and his cousin Evelyn Vera Aplin (daughter of Edwin Aplin and Ellen Jane nee Samways) became very close and were briefly engaged after his last leave home in October/November 1917. However, Douglas was killed in action during the Battle of Cambrai on the 24th November 1917. Douglas was fighting dismounted during the action at Bourlon Wood.

Unfortunately, like many soldiers of the First World War, Douglas has no known grave and is remembered with honour on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France.

His friend, Harold Baker, who himself died as a result of the war in 1918 wrote a letter to Evelyn Vera Aplin explaining what happened to Douglas.

Editor's Comment: Y.M.C.A. headed notepaper: 'On Active Service | With the British | Expeditionary Force'.