A letter found in a dying man's pocket led to a Luton mother being wrongly informed that her teenage son had died of wounds in France.

The chaplain of No 8 Clearing Hospital, Calais, thought the man he buried at Ballieul on January 11th was Pte William James Boon (pictured left), 3/7361, C Company, 2nd Battalion Beds Regt, based on a letter found on the dying man. He accordingly wrote to Pte Boon's mother at 28 St Ann's Road, Luton, with the sad news.

A report of Pte Boon's "death" that was printed in The Luton News on January 28th, 1915, was read by a comrade while on leave in Luton. As a result Pte Thomas George Wood, of Bailey Street, Luton, told the newspaper the following week: "He is not dead. I left him last Thursday morning alive and well in the trenches."

The report about Pte Boon has caused much mystification, wrote the Luton News on February 4th. Mrs Boon is anxiously awaiting further news from her son.

It was thought that there could be no doubt as to Pte Boon's death, for it was reported by the chaplain at the No 8 Clearing Hospital, who wrote that he was with the young fellow when he died.

A letter posted on the same day as the chaplain's letter was received, and in it Boon complained of rheumatism, and said he would like to get home for a day or two. It was thought that the letter was found on the dying man, but now that a mistake is suspected, it is surmised that the posting of the letter on the same day as that sent by the chaplain is purely a coincidence.

Pte Wood, speaking to The Luton News on February 3rd, said he came out of the trenches the previous Thursday at 4.30 am and he then spoke to Pte Boon, with whom he had attended Surrey Street Schools, Luton, as a boy. The following day he was home on leave and on going into a hairdresser's shop in Bailey Street he saw report of Pte Boon's death in The Luton News of January 28th.

Pte Wood said he thought it was a case of mistaken identity, and he would speak to Pte Boon about it when he got back to the trenches on the coming Friday.

Pte Wood, pictured right, had himself had some narrow escapes at the front. He first came from South Africa with the 2nd Bedfords and had been at the front for four or five months.

Detailing some of his experiences he said: "One day in October we carried out a charge at Ypres, and half by bayonet was blown away by a shell. My rifle was also smashed and I had to discard it.

"Another day in December, at Brailleul, when we went out to take some prisoners, a bullet entered the back of my coat and slightly grazed my skin. It was a miraculous escape.

"Two days later I was out on patrol and we were nearly all captured in barbed wire entanglements. The Germans were dropping shells all the time. Our officer told us to escape the best way we could, but the Germans had all but surrounded us. I and another man from London managed to slip out, and we jumped one of the barbed wire fences. I thought I was in a marathon race, but we got back to our headquarters all right.

"Another day I was on outpost duty and the force was so strong against us that we had to retire under machine gun fire. A bullet went through the butt of my rifle, but did not touch the mechanism, and I have fired out of it since. Mt skin was grazed, however."

Pte Wood has evidently a charmed life, said The Luton News.

[The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists Pte William James Boon, 3/7361, C Company, 2nd Battalion Beds Regt, as in fact killed in action about four months later, at Festubert on May 17th, 1915.]

[Source: The Luton News, February 4th, 1915]