Stondon Massey: Remembering ... Herbert Hasler

Herbert Hasler survived being “torpedoed twice on the same day by two vessels (31st December 1917) en route from Marseilles to Alexandria” and marched on to Palestine where he was ‘gassed’. (An account of his experience was recorded by Revd. Reeve on 12th October 1918). Although he returned home, “he never fully recovered” and died on 21st June 1920, aged 32. “He was accorded a full military funeral” and was buried in Stondon churchyard three days later. “One grieves to think how many a man up and down the country must have succumbed to this sad complaint. A company of 21 Soldiers with sergeant and bugler from the Middlesex Regt. kindly attending from Hendon: Hasler having served in the 3/10 Bn. of this Regiment. They brought a Union Jack wherewith to drape the “coffin”, and a party of six acted as bearers. The firing party fired three volley over the grave at the conclusion of the service, and the bugler sounded the ‘Last Post’”.

The ‘Commonwealth War Graves Commission’ includes the following citation:
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2757731