Current Information:

Age-28

19, Wingfield Street, Peckham

Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, Belgium

On 4th March, 1915, the 2nd East Kent (Buffs) battalion of 85 Brigade, 28th Division left their billets at Locre and moved into trenches at Kemmel in Belgium where they remained until relieved on 16th March. John Bowen was killed here on 6th March but the battalion diary provides no information concerning his death. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.