HULMES, JOHN
Rank:
Service No:
Date of Death:
Age:
Regiment/Service:
Grave Reference:
Text on stone:
Rank:
Service No:
Date of Death:
Age:
Regiment/Service:
Grave Reference:
Text on stone:
Private
14337114
27/09/1944
20
King’s Own Scottish Borderers 6th Bn.
II. D. 7.
Well done
Additional Information:
Son of Alfred and Minnie Hulmes, of Thornton, Blackpool, Lancashire.
Born on 27-2-1924 in Billinge, Lancashire. John Hulmes died of his wounds on the 27th of September 1944. He was initially buried at Meerveldhoven before being moved to the Valkenswaard War Cemetery.
He was born on 17 February 1924 in Billinge, Lancashire in north west England. Later the family moved to Thornton near Blackpool. He was the third of six children and the oldest son.
His father, Alfred worked as a joiner and then as a market gardener. He had been badly gassed in the first world war and was often ill.
His battalion, 6th battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers, entered France soon after the D-Day landings and fought their way up through France, Belgium and then into Holland.
He was killed on the 27 September 1944 when a shell fired by American troops hit a woodland where he and other soldiers were sheltering. He was hit by a falling tree.
His younger brother Arthur (Cameronian Scottish Rifles) was also in the area. They had met by accident the day before John’s death. Arthur got permission to visit his brother the next day. When he arrived he was told that his brother had been wounded and then discovered that John had died only a few minutes before his arrival.
The telegram with news of John’s death arrived on 6 October 1944 during my parent’s wedding.
Many members of my family have visited John’s grave in Valkenswaard.
From the service records of John Hulmes, the following account can be reconstructed.
John Hulmes was born on 17 February 1924 in Wigan, Lancashire. In civilian life he was a single man. He was 5 feet 7¾ inches tall, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair.
He enlisted on 19 November 1942 with the PTW (likely a local Territorial or training unit). John trained for anti-tank operations and joined the Border Regiment on 25 May 1943. On 30 July 1944, he transferred to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.
John Hulmes was appointed to North-West Europe on 31 May 1944, shortly before the Normandy landings, and was killed of wounds on 28 September 1944, during the intense fighting of the Allied advance through North-West Europe.
Brother Arthur Hulmes
Original gravesite at Meerveldhoven.