Among the wounded in the fighting for Hill 60 was Pte Albert Kempton, 7886, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, whose home is at 1 Chobham Street, Luton. He was buried in a house on which a "Jack Johnson" [large artillery shell] fell, and had a marvellous escape, being brought out later with shrapnel wounds in the leg, while others were killed.

Writing from the No. 8 General Hospital, Rouen, he said: "I feel very low, but I have a strong constitution and a good heart. Tell my wife Kate I've got shipmark on my beard, and that means coming home. Break the news to her nicely.

"I have been buried alive in a big house, and it took some time to get me out. It was a 'Jack Johnson' that came in and knocked the whole show down. I was underneath with about eight or ten tons of it over me, bricks and wood, and the smoke from shells that strangles people. How I got out God only knows. I never experienced anything like it before in my life."

Writing later to his wife from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Pte Kempton (pictured, right) wrote: "I have had a shot in the leg and concussion. I did not know anything until I found myself in hospital."

Albert's brother, Pte J. Kempton (pictured, left), 8710, 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifles, was a prisoner of war in Germany.

[Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph, May 8th, 1915]