Claude John Howard Rawlings

Story:
Claude John Howard Rawlings was born in Llanhilleth, Monmouthshire, on 5 Nov 1896 and baptised there on 2 Dec 1896 the son of Sidney James Rawlings and Alice Ellen Rawlings (nee Webb).  He lived his early life in Monmouthshire until by 1911 he was a pupil boarder in Weston super Mare, Somerset.  He had joined the Territorial Unit of the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private (Service No. 3665).  He had served in France and Flanders with the 3/6th Battalion later being allotted Service No. 201075.  His address had been recorded in the Absent Voters List as Iwerne Minster, Dorset.  He transferred to the Royal Air Force as a Flight Cadet with the 125th Squadron.  Regrettably he was killed in a flying accident at Fowlmere Aerodrome, Cambridgeshire, on 12 Aug 1918.  He was buried in a WGC plot at Bath Abbey Cemetery, Bath, Somerset, (Grave Ref: East Border 4. E. 29.).  He had been awarded the Victory and British War Medals (these had later been returned to the Medal Office in 1922 for disposal).