The emotive Gammon Family Irish War of Independence and Faversham explosion medals. The son, Drummer W.S. Gammon, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment saw service on the Western Front from 4th September 1914 and would be three times wounded during the Great War. He would survive to return to Ireland where his unit had been stationed at Fermoy before the Great War but would be murdered in a Sinn Fein ambush that took place at Labbacalee on 26th November 1920 when their vehicle was stopped by a log that had been placed across the road. Opening fire from both sides of the road Drummer Gammon and his comrade Corporal Hill were instantly killed, while their officer and two other comrades were wounded. His father P. Gammon was present at the explosion at the Explosives Loading Company at Faversham on 2nd April 1916 and would receive the Explosives Loading Company Distinguished Service Medal
Group of 3: 1914 Star; (L-8077 DMR. W.S. GAMMON. 1/E.KENT. R.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (L-8077 PTE. W.S. GAMMON. E. KENT. R.)
Condition: Good Very Fine
Together with a handwritten letter from Lieutenant Colonel R. McDowall to his mother after his death dated 29th November 1920.
Four modern photographs of his headstone
Walter Spencer Gammon was born in Ramsgate in 1891 and having enlisted saw service as a Bandsman with the 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment on the Western Front from 4th September 1914, having been wounded three times during the Great War he would be serving in Ireland and would be murdered in a Sinn Fein ambush on 26th November 1920. An article in the East Kent Times of 1st December 1920 covers the event:
‘Murder of Popular Ramsgate Soldier’
Reprisals by the men of the 1st Buffs for the murder by Sinn Feiners on Friday night last of two of their comrades is foreshadowed in a letter received yesterday by Mr. and Mrs. Gammon of St. Jean, Cottage Road, Ramsgate, whose son Walter, aged 29, was one of those slain.
With other members of the 1st Buffs stationed in Ireland this young man, who was drummer in the regiment, was returning from an enquiry by motor lorry when, on reaching Labbacalee, nr. Fermoy, they ran into an ambush. Shots rang out from either side of the road, and drummer Gammon and Corporal Hall were instantaneously killed, while their officer and two other comrades were wounded. Durmmer Gammon, who had served with the Buffs for twelve years, was in Fermoy when the war broke out, and was immediately drafted to the Western Front.
Three times wounded, he returned, soon after the signing of the Armistice, to barracks in Ireland, and beyond one or two periods of leave has since been on duty there. A keen musician, he favoured the piccolo from his early youth and found a place in the Buffs’ band soon after enlistment.
Writer to Drummer Gammon’s parents to convey the sad news of his death, Lieut-Col. McDonall says ‘I knew your son personally, and had a very great regard for him. We shall all feel his loss very much, as he was so popular in the regiment, to which he was devoted. I cannot let you know how grieved we all were about it, he was a brave lad and a Buff to the backbone.
Walter’s parents would receive a letter from Captain John. B. Sharp, of the Company in which their son served:
‘I hope you will forgive me for intruding upon your sorrow if I venture to write to offer to you both my very deepest sympathy in your terrible loss. Your boy was cruelly done to death at the post of duty, and died a true soldier. Your son was one of a party on escort duty and riding in a motor lorry. A cowardly ambush in the dark was laid by the attackers who fired a burst of shots from both sides of the road at point blank range and then ran away. Your poor boy and Corporal Hall were killed instantly and two other men wounded. His body was immediately brought to hospital (at Fermoy) and attended to with all reverence and respect. I feel you would like to know how he met his death, and hope you will forgive me if I hurt you.
Your son was one of the best in the regiment, and we all feel his loss most deeply, and realise how much worse it is for you. As the bandmaster said to me this morning. ‘Some men are just men, but poor Gammon was a manly man.’. That is the option of the whole of the regiment in which he was deservedly popular and respected. If you would care to write to me, I shall be glad to answer any question I can. In the meanwhile, please accept my own deepest sympathy and those of your brave son’s comrades. He died a soldier’s death at the post of duty, and is doubtless now at peace.’
From Sergeant Drummer P.W. Norwood, comes the following: ‘The drummers wish to join with me in expressing our very deepest sympathy with you in your terrible bereavement, and to assure you of their determination at the first opportunity of avenging the brutal murder of your son sincerest consolation in your deep sorrow.’
Along with his fathers: Explosives Loading Company Medal for Distinguished Service in hallmarked silver present to P. Gammon.
At 14.20 on Sunday 2nd April 1916, 109 men and boys were killed by an explosion at the Explosives Loading Company Factory at Uplees, near Faversham. Fifteen tons of TNT and 150 tons of ammonium nitrate blew up when some empty sacks caught fire. So great was the explosion that windows across the Thames estuary in Southend were shattered and the tremor was felt in Norwich. The crater made by the explosion was 40 yards across and twenty feet deep.
The Cotton Powder Company’s huge factory, adjacent to the Explosives Loading Company’s plant, was also seriously damaged. Most of its site now forms the Oare Marshes Nature Reserve, of international importance for its bird life. This was the worst disaster ever to occur in the history of the UK explosives industry. A brave attempt was made to extinguish the fire before it got out of control, but factory manager George Evetts ordered everyone to leave the site when the situation became hopeless. However, the explosion occurred as everyone was leaving the site.
Included in the 116 dead from the incident, was the whole of the Works Fire Brigade. Many firemen died in subsequent smaller explosions on the site. Many bodies were recovered from the surrounding marshes and dykes, but seven were recorded as missing, most probably atomised by the explosion. Many of the dead were buried in a mass grave at Faversham Cemetery on 6th April 1916.