WALLACE GEORGE TUCKER

Lance Corporal 290236

Wallace George Tucker was born in Newton Ferrers on 8 May 1895, the son of George, a fisherman, and Emma Tucker.� He had four older sisters.� The 1901 Census shows his mother as widowed, with only �George� and Blanche remaining at home.� He was baptised at Holy Cross Church on 5 July 1895, and attended the local school from 30 August 1898 to 19 June 1908 (Roll No. 373 also gives his name as �George�).

George Tucker enlisted at Plymouth into The 2^nd/6^th Battalion (Territorials) of the Devonshire Regiment.� The battalion served almost three years of the war as a garrison unit in India, initially in Bombay, then moving to the Chakrata Hills and ending up in Peshawar on the North West Frontier.� In July 1917 orders were received to prepare for a move to Palestine, but on reaching Deolali fresh orders were issued for a move to Mesopotamia.� The battalion sailed on the HT �Edavana� and arrived at Basra on 14 September 1917.� Based at Sheikh Saad on the River Tigris in Basra Province, the battalion�s task was to protect lines of communications. ��

The battalion war diary does not report any deaths in November 1918, but there is a record of 65 soldiers going into hospital and 54 later being discharged.� George Tucker may well have been one of the 11 who died.� He died on 4 November 1918 aged 24, and is remembered with honour at the Amara Cemetery (Plot XIV.C.25) in Iraq.