Edgar Daniel Gibson Pte 44579 Welsh Regiment
Died on Friday 20th September 1918 AGE: 27
Daniel was the son of Mr. & Mrs. R Gibson of Rose Cottage, Pwllmeyric, a member of a well-known local family. Army records show that he enlisted in Pontypridd and give his address as Chepstow. He was a member of the 8th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment, a pioneer unit, which towards the end of the War was serving in Mesopotamia.
The campaign against Turkey made slow progress through Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Baghdad was captured in March 1917 and became a center of Allied operations with two hospitals, three casualty clearing stations and a large cemetery which continued to expand for the next 50 years. Daniel’s battalion was in action a few days before he died. However we do not know if he died from injuries suffered in that action or from some other cause – a common killer of soldiers in this area was disease, in particular dysentery.
He was buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, grave reference IV.G.6. His family would have received his War and Victory medals. The death notice shown below appeared in the Chepstow Weekly Advertiser of Saturday October 5th 1918.
Daniel has relatives still living in Pwllmeyric and also a nephew Mr. Bruce Gibson, now living in Fareham, Hants, who has provided us with an interesting letter: following in his uncle’s footsteps he served in Mesopotamia after the Second World War.
Finding himself in the War Cemetery at Basra
“I decided to try and locate Daniel’s grave. I failed to do so. However on visiting the small chapel belonging to the cemetery later I found his name recorded upon a ROLL OF HONOUR therein which was of great satisfaction to me.”