Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-03-05
Concord

Mr.. and Mrs. Emanual LillieIap
have received the following loucy
from Lieutenant c. c. Stull, IT,, in
regard to the death Of thci' son,
George E. Lilljcrap, killed in action.
Chanplettc De Saonp
France, Jan. -, 1919
Dear Mrs. Lillicrap:--
I have long intended writing Yea
and only a few days ago your Letter
reached me. You have asked for fGlt
particulars, but | am sorry / an !os
able to furnish detailed particulars Of
your brave boys death. Lut I GO
know the date and place Of hi+ death
and also the place Of his buliai. &c
was killed on the morning. of C"t.
z, 1918, on a hill ovc.' which hi con-
pany was advancing in an atiat<. On
large map of France You will End
this hill between the River hire and
the little village Of Cornay. Corr
ay is in the west side OF Inc River
Aire, just north OF ".tprcmor.." The
latter town is in the extreme south
eastern corner of the Academies. Dept.
just where it joins the Dept. OF The
Marine and The Mouse. He was l,t-
ed sometime during the morning and
I am not positive if it was caused by
shell fire or machine gun fire. More
likely the latter. Nov from you let
ter 1 judge he was reported "oiii-
cially killed in action Oct. IL, 1918"
I'll explain how such a discrepancy
in date is liable to occur in individual
cases. 1t is hard for me who ha@
never seen modern battlefield to
realize that it is possible for man
to be dead for many days without his
body being located by the burial par
ties. Some one killed in unlikely
spots and often wounded men crawl
to some spot for protection and die
there, unknown to their comrades
and then it is days later after The al
tack has advanced many miles be
fore the battlefield can be- closely
searched for the dead, and an pos
tive that Corporal Lillicrap's body
was not found until the 10th or pos
sibly a day or so later, and no evil
dence being available as to The eX-
act time of his death, it was ncccs-
sary for someone to set II day on
which he was Politically killed. Such
things are absolutely unavoidable. He
was given religious burial by one
of the Division Chaplains. His grave
is on the slope of the hill on the west
bank of the Aire, not so far from the
scene of his death. Co. d, was Trac-
tically wiped out on the 7th and Sth
of October and on the 18th the rom
nants of the company had advanced
quite a few kilometcrs north and
when all the dead were buried, exact
details of each and every soldiers
death could not be had. The Informal
ton am giving you as TO his death
was furnished me by two men who
were wounded the same day and haze
just returned to the company from
one of our best and trucSt mon.
He was in my platoon when VIC
went over the top on the morning of
the 7th and were in-thc first wave
of the attacking company and our
company certainly gained enduring
fame that day in the taking of the
deadly chill $50" and that hill is
stained in countless places by the
blood of our valient comrades. About
Is including one officer Of tho Cor +
poraPs comrades are buried in the
same place, having made the supreme
sacrifice in the same bloody advance.
Regarding his personal effects they
wer e on his person I presume, and if
if they were the chaplain would have
forwarded them to the effects Section /,
and they in turn would have them