BORN HULL 1894. HE WAS AN ENGINEER ON A LOCAL TRAWLER, BEFORE JOINING THE WAR. HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. SERVED WITH THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. KILLED AT ARRAS, ON 28/06/1917, AGED 23. HIS FINACEE ANNA GILLS LIVED AT EDINBURGH STREET, HULL. HE WAS A GOOD SOLDIER, VERY JOLLY, CHEERFUL AND “ALWAYS SINGING”. HE WAS WALKING DOWN A COMMUNICATION TRENCH WITHHIS FRIEND, WHEN THEY WERE HIT BY A SHELL. HE WAS HIT IN THE HEAD BY A PIECE OF SHRAPNEL AND DIED INSTANTLY.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 24/07/1917.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE OSCAR JOHNSON 11/863. Born 1894, Oscar was the eldest of two sons to Thure and Ellen Johnson, of 2 Beatrice Avenue, Division Road, Hull (War Pension Address). A Ship’s Engineer before the war, he enlisted at City Hall on 10th September 1914 joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. The whole ethos behind the Pals Battalions was that family, friends and workmates who enlisted together would be guaranteed to fight together, and I have started to wonder about the men stood around Oscar in the queue. Did a bunch of them head down from the docks that day? It was a Thursday. The 11th Battalion had started recruiting the previous Monday, the 7th. By the end of Thursday it had 1000 men. City Hall was bedecked with flags and posters and from the balcony came rousing patriotic speeches and performances by military bands. It must have been quite a scene, and quite hard for a young man to resist the promise of regular wages and adventure, and a story or two for the girls when he got home for Christmas. In an ironic twist on what was to come, the Pals lost their first man on the 9th- Thomas Adams (Day 1). On the 7th, Adams and the rest of the newly raised 10th Battalion had paraded on Walton Street using sticks for rifles. As Philip Larkin later wrote: “Never such innocence again.”
Oscar Johnson was killed in action on 28th June 1917 and his body was never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 23 years old.
