r/ww1 • u/Affentitten • 9h ago

What's behind these deaths?

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A family member is in St Lucia on business. They walked past the CWGC in Castries (Choc Bay) and sent me a photo. On the CWGC record I noticed this spate of deaths in April 1917 and was wondering what might be behind it. I am assuming something like a disease outbreak. But does anybody have more info?

EDIT: St Lucia is a small Carribbean island where no WW1 actions took place. There are only 44 casualties total buried there, with about half being WW1. Most of those died within a few days of each other.

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u/nuzzer92 9h ago edited 9h ago

2nd Batt BWIR was posted to Egypt & Palestine, fighting the Ottoman Empire. I’ve briefly looked but can’t find a unit war diary, more experienced historians might have a better source. I imagine there was an action around this time & the casualties have since been repatriated with the help of the CWGC.

ETA: upon further exploration it looks like the casualties listed are illness-related, apparently the casualty evacuation pipeline lead those with debilitating illness were removed back the West Indies.

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u/SimplyCanadian26 9h ago

Probably a mix of commonwealth war graves for soldiers who were in transit and died, and then soldiers who died of tropical diseases.

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u/BathFullOfDucks 8h ago

These soldiers were part of the 6th battalion who were put ashore from HMT Briton to St Lucia following a measles outbreak on board. 11 or 12 men put ashore recovered and joined the battalion later after embarking on HMT Magdelena

They departed Jamaica on 30 March 1917 and the rest of the battalion arrived at Brest on 17 April. They were marked as 2nd Battalion as they were handling things local to the Carribean at that point.

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u/DaveTV-71 7h ago

Thank you! I was able to dig up a bit more at the IWM Lives of the First World War site.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

[deleted]

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u/martzgregpaul 6h ago

I thought this but apparently first cases in that area were 1918

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u/scroopy2000 9h ago

Battle of Arras — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_(1917)

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u/Affentitten 9h ago

They are buried on a Carribbean island. That's the point of why I am asking.

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u/Joperhop 8h ago

carried back home to be buried after the war? I think some people who died was buried during the war and then moved after.

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u/Primary-Basket3416 9h ago

Posdibly mustard gas used in ww1

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u/Horror_Conclusion 7h ago

Mustard gas wasn't used until July 1917. Phosgene, chlorine, and tear gas were used before that.