Pte A B (or B A) Heath, 1st KSLI and 7th and 2nd Leinsters- twice wounded

Arthur Benjamin Heath of Cressage, Shropshire was possibly a Derby Scheme volunteer. Probably, taking the service history of 33219/15365 Herbert Hammond of Clee Hill, Ludlow, as a guide, he was mobilised some time prior 22 March 1917 at Shrewsbury. He was  probably mobilised at Copthorne Barracks, and then posted for training to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry at Pembroke Dock.

 He would then have proceeded overseas to join the BEF around 26 June 1917, as part of a draft of men for the 1st KSLI. Upon arrival in France he would have been posted to one of the numerous base depots situated near the coast to complete his training and wait to be posted to join his battalion in the field. Most probably whilst still at base Depot, he would have been transferred to the Leinster Regiment on or around 22 July 1917 and then posted immediately to the 7th (Service) Battalion, then part of the 47th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division. This was most probably to make good losses incurred in the opening three weeks of the Third Battle of Ypres. His first wound was recorded in War Office Daily List No.5370 dated 21 September 1917 and probably indicates that Pte Heath was wounded with the 7th Leinsters at Third Ypres - possibly, like Pte Hammond, by gun shot wound around 18 August 1917. He was most probably wounded during the battalion's participation in the Battle of Langemarck on 16 August 1917. Prior to the battle the 16th and 36th Divisions had been providing carrying parties since the last week in July and had been holding ground from 4 August in the Hanebeek and Steenbeek valleys, which were overlooked by the Germans. This had exhausted many men and from 1 to 15 August, the divisions had lost about a third of their front-line strength in casualties. Accordingly the divisions struggled in the attack, which took place along a front from north of the Ypres–Roulers railway to just south of St Julien, finding that the German strong points had not been destroyed by the artillery. The garrison at Potsdam, Vampire and Borry farms inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers of the 16th Division and it is possible that Pte Heath was wounded in this attack.

As part of a wider manpower rationalisation in the British Army, the 7th battalion was disbanded on 14 February 1918 at Tincourt. The personnel were sent to the 19th Entrenching Battalion (200 men) and to the 2nd Leinsters, a Regular battalion of the regiment. It seems likely that Pte Heath may have been sent back to the 7th after recovering from his wound and that his transfer to the 2nd Battalion - as indicated in his medal roll entry - took place at this time. This was during the brief period when the 2nd battalion was part of 16th (Irish) Division; from 30 April it moved across to the 88th Brigade of the 29th Division. Pte Heath's second wound, which probably took place not long after his transfer, was recorded in War Office Daily List No.5601 dated 25 June 1918. It was incurred possibly in the course of the Battles of St Quentin and Rosieres in late March 1918, both battles of the German Spring Offensive. The battalion, along with the rest of the 47th Brigade was in Reserve when the German attack commenced on 21 March and swiftly found itself reduced to two companies. These companies were then in defensive positions around Proyart when the Germans broke through north of the Somme on 27 March, and forced to perform a further fighting retreat. Pte Heath could have been wounded on either of these occasions. Alternatively Pte Heath may have been wounded when the 2nd Battalion (now part of 88th Brigade of the 29th Division) was caught by shelling on the road from brigade headquarters to relieve the 10th East Yorkshires in the line opposite Vieux Berquin on 27 April.

Pte Heath was demobilized by transfer to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve on 21 October 1919. 

He was possibly one and the same with Benjamin Arthur Heath, born in Albrighton Shropshire in the second quarter of 1889 to Benjamin and Elizabeth Heath, his father Benjamin being a farm servant originally from Montgomery in Wales. In 1911 Benjamin the younger was a Farm Waggoner boarding with Clement and Edith Thomas at 2 Plex Cottage, Broad Oak.