Private John Henry Coetzee

Private, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Infantry (Army).

Joined the P.P.C.L.I. in August 1914 [an original]. Killed in Ypres.

Prior service: 5 years Cape Mounted Rifles Ser# 3121, Q.S.A medal 3 bars, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal. K.S.A. medal 2 bars. 1901 & 1902. 3 years Cape Field Artillery. South Africa.

Joined the US Army 11th Dec 1908 @ Fort Slocum, NY. Discharged 2nd Apr 1910.

Survived the fierce fighting on Bellewaerde Ridge only to be killed in the town of Ypres 9 May 1915. Shortly after mail call, he and several others wandered off to look at the town ruins when they were caught by an artillery shell. Sweeney J E (#805 ) and O’Keefe D (#23562 ) caught the full blast of the shrapnel and where killed instantly, while Mould A (#813 ) and Coetzee J H (#759) were mortally wounded. They were brought back to the ramparts to wait for the ambulance but both died before it arrived. All four originally buried in the Ramparts. Three were found after the war and buried together in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, while Pte. Mould is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.[source: "With The Patricia’s In Flanders- Then & Now 1914-1919" by Stephen K. Newman, pg.72.]