Percy Thomas Heath

No / Rank: 17896 A/Cpl
Regiment: South Wales Borderers
Battalion: 7th Battalion
Born: Hereford
Enlisted: Newport
Residence: Machen, Mon
Date Died: 05.05.1918
How Died: Killed in Action
Theatre of War: Salonika

Brigade:67th Division:22nd (New Army)

Awarded the Military Medal (1917) and Mentioned in Despatches (1918).

Died on Sunday 5th May 1918 Aged 21. Son of C.William and S.S.Heath of Ivy Cottage, Machen, Newport, Mon. Buried at Dorian Military Cemetery, near the Southeast shore of Lake Dorian, 2kms from Dorian Village. The cemetery is now the site of what was known to the British troops as Colonial Hill.

Percy Heath had served with his battalion in France before being transferred to the Balkans. Corporal Heath was awarded the Military Medal for his actions during an attack near the Vardar River. Following a very heavy and prolonged gas and high explosive artillery barrage, that had lasted for over 18 hours, he had ‘brought in’ a wounded man under heavy fire.
He was also Mentioned in Despatches in March 1918, although it was reported at home that he had been recommended for the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

The Battalion diary for the 4th and 5th of May 1918 records that the men were involved in preparing defensive positions in their second line of defence.

5th May 1918.

A shell landed amongst a working party of ‘C’ company who were working on gun positions on La Fortune, killing 2 men and wounding 13, one of whom died the following day. No 7/17896 Cpl Heath.P. M.M. was killed; his death was a great loss to the Battalion, as he was a very capable N.C.O. and a fearless soldier.

It is unusual for the Battalion Diary to refer to individual, and especially ‘Other Ranks’. Before the war, Percy Heath had been a miner at Nine Mile Point colliery.