nelson

This is Maurice Grant Nelson who was Commissioned into 9th Battalion Border Regiment as a Second Lieutenant on 17th October 1914. [London Gazette of 23 Nov 1914]. 9th(Service) Battalion Border Regiment mustered in Carlisle in September 1914 as a K3 volunteer battalion. The battalion joined 66th Brigade in 22nd Division and trained at Lewes, Seaford and Eastbourne between October and November 1914.
In February 1915 the battalion became the Divisional Pioneers in 22nd Division, training for this role in Seaford in March 1915 and then Aldershot in May 1915. 9th Border landed at Le Havre on 4 September 1915 but were almost immediately redirected to the Salonika theatre for operations in support of Serbian troops fighting the Bulgarians, embarking at Marseilles and arriving there on 7 November 1915. The Battalion saw action from 8th to 13th of December 1915 during the Retreat from Serbia. In 1916 they fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Hill and the Battle of Machukovo. In 1917 and 1918 they took part in the Battles of Doiran. The Armistice with Bulgaria was signed on 30 September 1918 and the Division marched back to Stavros where they embarked on destroyers to make a landing at Dede Agach to assist with the fight against Turkey. The first attempt at a landing was called off due to rough weather but they finally landed on the 28th of October 1918. The Armistice with Turkey was imminent and Turkish demobilisation began at Chugunsi.//

Born in York in 1874, and therefore about 40 years old in this picture, he survived the war and died in 1957, aged 83, in Wantage, Berkshire. He was married to Lianora Rona Nelson (married 1902, in Bradfield, Berkshire). //

MIC shows that he received the SWB. Address at that time Beechwood, Nettlebed, Oxon.

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The aviator on the left side of the frame is (then) Lieut. Erik Henning Nelson (USAAS), pilot of Douglas World Cruiser No. 4 "New Orleans." There are several photos of him throughout the SDASM's collection on Flickr. See: dmairfield.com/people/nelson_eh/index.html Leaning on the wing on the right side of the frame is Lieut. "Smiling" Jack Harding (USAAS), Nelson's co-pilot aboard "New Orleans." See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation

Standing and to the left-most side of the frame is Erik Henning Nelson, who would go on to be one of the Around The World Flight aviators in 1924, one year after this photo was taekn. Here are just a couple of the dozens of photos of Nelson in the SDASM's Flickr photostream: See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation www.dmairfield.org/people/nelson_eh/index.html and www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=11346 Sitting at center is Thomas G. Lanphier, Sr. (1890-1971). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_George_Lanphier_Sr. Sitting to Lanphier's left is Charles B. Austin (1891-1928).