Private Tom Drudy, 15918, Coldstream Guards 2nd Bn.

South Yorkshire Times - 7th Oct. 1917
Image with thanks to the Barnsley Archives

Service Details:
Private. Tom Drudy, 15918, Coldstream Guards 2nd Bn.
Killed in Action  31st July 1917, Age 20/21.

Biography:
Tom Drudy was one of  Passchendaele's first casualties; The 3 month campaign, which is also referred to as the 3rd battle of Ypres, took place in West Belgium between 31st July and 10th November 1917. The main aim of the offensive was to gain allied control of the area surrounding the Belgian city of Ypres.  At the time Tom was a 21 year old private with the 2nd Cold Stream Guards and a former miner at Wombwell Main Colliery. As the offensive commenced Tom was stationed not far from a railway junction, 5 miles east of Passchendaele. His regiment was part of the Guards Division. When the assault against the German's began at 3.50am on 31st July 1917 it was his brigade's job to support the other regiments in the division, 5 hours later at 8.50am Tom's battalion moved forward in order to take their own objectives, but enemy machine gun fire from the direction of the River Steenbeek caused them to fall 80 yards short of their target. It was during the advance that Tom most likely lost his life. The days following the battle were mired by torrential rain, which halted allied progress and turned the already churned and crater ridden ground into a boggy mire, this made it impossible to recover and identify the bodies of the fallen. Like so many other's that day Tom's remains were claimed by the mud of West Belgium, unable to receive a proper burial Tom is remembered on the Menin Gate instead. His wife, Doris, would not receive notification of his death until September, When it was official announced in The Barnsley Chronicle.

The Menin Gate Image from Wikipedia

Tom was the second son and third child of William and Mary Drudy, a coal miner and riper packer respectively, the family lived at 22 Main Street, Wombwell. Tom enlisted in April 1915, and on 15th September 1916, almost 18 months in to his service, he was wounded in the hand and thigh. Subsequently, Tom was sent back to England to recover and he spent some time convalescing at Whalley Hospital in Lancaster, before returning to join his regiment overseas. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star as well as the British War and Victory Medals.

Grave:
No known grave

Memorials:
Menin Gate, panel 11. Ypres, Belgium
Wombwell War Memorial, Park Street, S73 0HS.

Sources_____________________________________
Barnsley Chronicle: 30th Sept. 1916, 8th Sept. 1917 and 28th Oct. 1916
South Yorkshire Times 7th Oct. 1917.
Cwgc.com - casuality details for Tom Drudy
1911 Census, Soldiers' Who Died in the Great War and Register of Soldier effects