My Boy Jack

     18 year old Second Lieut. John Kipling was weeping as he staggered through the mud. He lost his glasses and the pain from the bullet wound in his jaw was excruciating. How he wished he was back home instead of the stinking, filthy charnel house that was the Loos Battlefield. It was September 27th, 1915 and Kipling's regiment, the famed Irish Guards had taken a pounding while advancing on the German held positions near Hill 70. In reality, John (Jack) Kipling should not have even been here. His eyesight was so poor he was initially rejected from military service but was given a commission with the Irish Guards thanks to the influence of his father, famed author Rudyard Kipling.

     Jack had just turned 18 when he was posted to France. Within six weeks, 13 British divisions, including the Irish Guards, would be in action in what was to become the Battle of Loos. Initially, the huge number of both French and British soldiers gave them a brief advantage that allowed for the capture of the town of Loos. However due to communication and supply problems, the breakout could not be exploited and the delay gave the Germans time to reinforce their positions. This proved disastrous for the allies the next day as they attempted to take the fortified German lines. In four hours of fighting, there were over 8,000 casualties out of a total force of 10,000 men.

     Initially, Jack was listing as missing after the battle as were so many thousands of young men. The notion of being missing in combat can have several meanings. One can be unaccounted for, but completely safe in a different sector or, as is often the case, there can be no identifiable remains whatsoever. The body can be blown to atoms by high explosive shells in an instant or buried under tons of mud and earth. All anyone knew that 2nd Lt Kipling was missing from the battle. Rudyard and his wife, Caroline, were completely grief stricken. Using every possible channel and high level contact, they tried desperately to get any news of the whereabouts of their son, but as the weeks stretched into months and then years, it became apparent that Jack was dead and his remains had been lost. Shortly after he was declared missing in 1915, Rudyard Kipling wrote this poem for his son:

"Have you news of my boy Jack?"
Not this tide.
"When d'you think that he'll come back?"
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
"Has any one else had word of him?"
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?"
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind -
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide.

     In 1992, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced that a grave of an unknown Irish Guards Lieutenant located in the St. Mary's Advance Dressing Station Cemetery in Pas de Calais had been identified as that of Jack Kipling. However, that claim is in dispute for several reasons. The body that was found had rank pips belonging to a 1st Lt and Kipling at the time of his death was only a 2nd LT. Also, the location of where the body of the 1st LT was found was misidentified as well. The curator of the Irish Guards museum even stated that the body in the grave is most assuredly not Jack Kipling. So today, 2nd Lt. John Kipling has two memorials. One is the headstone in St Mary's Cemetery and the other is on the Memorial to the Missing at Loos that list over 20,000 men who have no known grave.