2018 Battlefield Tour post 11
2018 France/Belgium Trip Post 11
A couple of miles from the Red Baron crash site is the the town of Corbie where we paid our respects at another DLOY grave.
1124 Tpr Thomas Ridyard is buried in La Neuville Communal Cemetery, Grave No. B49. He was killed in action on 4 January 1917 aged 48.
Thomas was born in Walkden in 1870 and enlisted in Manchester. The son of Richard and Mary Ridyard of Old Clough Farm, Walkden.
Interestingly the cemetery only holds 188 burials but from 58 different Regiments. In April 1916, No.21 Casualty Clearing Station came to La Neuville and remained there throughout the 1916 Battles of the Somme, until March 1917. La Neuville British Cemetery was opened early in July 1916, but burials were also made in the French communal cemetery. Most of them date from this period, but a few graves were added during the fighting on the Somme in 1918. The graves form one long row on the eastern side of the cemetery.
Ginger left a poppy cross in remembrance at his graveside. RIP
