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Burnley Express
21 Oct 1916

Served Eight Years With East Lancashires
Burnley Reservist Killed

The death in action is officially announced of Pte. Thomas O'Hara, 5873, of the East Lancashire Regt. on July 15th. The news is sent by his brother, who is also with the forces. Pte. T. O'Hara, whose sister lives at 8 Park-lane, was a reservist, having served eight years with the 1st East Lancashire Regt. and five years on the reserve. At the very outbreak of the war he reported at Preston Barracks and was told that he was time-expired. He thereupon immediately joined Kitchener's Army and was attached to a battalion of his old regiment. He went out early in 1915 and always wrote cheery letters home. His last letter was received at the beginning of July, and he then had great faith in coming home on a few days' leave, but did not get it. He was a member of St. Mary's R.C. Church. Pte O'Hara has five other brothers in the service. One has been in France since August 1914, and another has been wounded and invalided home from Salonika. The others are in various parts of the country. A brother-in-law and three nephews are also serving in France. He was a single man, aged 31, and was a station out porter when called up. A remarkable fact is that he was the youngest but one of 15 brothers out of a family of nineteen. The parents are both dead.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_det ... lty=807115

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Mel

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This man died at the Battle of the Somme and his body was never recovered hence his name is on the Thiepval Memorial. It is estimated the British army suffered 420,000 casualties, including 60,000 on the first day of the Battle, the French lost 200,000 and the German’s a further 500,000.

I find it difficult to comprehend 60,000 war dead in a single day when today’s media talks about 100 British casualties in two years of warfare in Afghanistan