AIX-NOULETTE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION

Aix-Noulette

Pas de Calais

France

General Directions: Aix-Noulette is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais, about 13 kilometres south of Bethune on the main road to Arras. From Arras take the D937 towards Bethune. At Aix-Noulette, turn right at the church. The Communal Cemetery and Extension are a few hundred metres on the left side of the road to Bully-Grenay.

The Cemetery Extension was begun by French troops early in 1915, and the two French plots are next to the Communal Cemetery. It was taken over by the 1st and 2nd Divisions in February, 1916, and used by fighting units and Field Ambulances until October, 1918. It was increased after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields to the East.

Shot at Dawn: Private's, G Comte and J La Lancette of the 22nd Bn. Canadian Expeditionary Force both executed for desertion on 03/07/1917 and buried in plot 1. F. 20 and 21 respectively.

Casualty Details: UK 257, Canada 492, France 502, Total Burials: 1251

G/14393 Private

Charles Leonard Bennett

9th Bn. Royal Sussex Regiment

12/04/1917 - 13/04/1917

aged 19.

Son of Samuel James and Mary Elizabeth Bennett, of 16, Prospect Row, Woolwich, London.

Plot I. A. 22.

This soldier was officially registered as Charles Leonard Bennett although his actual name was actually Leonard Charles Bennett. The reason for the change being that Leonard had been nicknamed ‘Elsie’ at school because of his initials. Not wishing to be known as ‘Elsie’ in the army, the enterprising lad turned his names around!

Because his elder brother Albert (my father) had joined up, he tried to enlist at the age of 16, but his fib was discovered and he was sent home. When he reached the correct age for enlistment, he joined the Royal Sussex, and was sadly killed near Arras in April 1917 at the age of 19.

Picture courtesy of his nephew, Derek Bennett

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