2nd Lieutenants

2nd Lieutenant Frank Robert Allen

Frank Robert Allen was appointed 2nd Lieutenant ASC 30th July 1917. He joined the 801st MT company from the Base Motor Transport Depot Salonika on the 9th November 1917. In February 1918 Major Holland (CO of the 801st) took over supervision of the 739th MT Company ASC and appointed 2nd Lieutenant Allen as temporary workshop officer of the 739th. When Captain M. Rees ASC relieved Major Holland of supervision of 739 MT Coy he retained 2nd Lieutenant Allen for temporary duty. 18th March 1918 2nd Lieutenant Allen returned to the 801st from detachment with the 739th. In September 1918 the company received orders to move camp and 2nd Lieutenant Allen left for Gramatna with 7 lorry loads of stores and equipment and an advanced party of officers and men to prepare the new camp. 2nd Lieutenant Allen continued to serve with 801st during the advance into Bulgaria and after the armistice was signed. He was hospitalised in March 1919 but returned to the 801st company from the 43rd General Hospital 29th March 1918. 2nd Lieutenant Allen was demobilised 26th April 1919.

2nd Lieutenant B L Cook

Second Lieutenant Cook joined the 801st from the 244th M.T. Company 11th June 1917, at the end of the month he was put in charge of the 15 man detachment sent to Nigoslav to cart hay. He would share this duty with Second Lieutenant Worssam through July and into August when he was transferred to the Base Motor Transport Depot for re-posting.

2nd Lieutenant Wilfred Victor Foucard

On the 7th of July 1916 Wilfred Foucard was appointed 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) Army Service Corps. According to his Medal Index Card the theatre of war he first served in was Salonika and he arrived there in November 1916. It is likely that 2nd Lieutenant Foucard’s first appointment was with the 801st Company, he is mentioned in the war diary on the 11th November 1916 not long after the company had arrived in Salonika when he left the 801st and was appointed SO (Stores Officer) of the ASC dump at Kilo 72 on the Seres road. A month later his probation period came to an end, he probably continued as stores officer as he was replaced in the 801st by 2nd Lieutenant McCraith in March 1917. He was promoted to Lieutenant 26th December 1917 and had achieved the rank of Captain when he relinquished his commission in February 1919.

2nd Lieutenant France Ferrer Hawkins

2nd Lieutenant Hawkins arrived in Salonika in November 1916, he was posted from the 765th M.T. Company to the 801st Company 3rd March 1918 as workshop officer. On the 15th February he was appointed temporary Lieutenant. He didn’t stay with 801st for very long and was posted to the 767th M.T. Company 6th May 1918.

2nd Lieutenant Anthony Metcalfe Gibson

In September 1917 2nd Lieutenant Metcalfe-Gibson was serving with the 801st MT Company, on the 22nd he was put in charge of the Decauville (light rail) detachment operating the supply line along the west side of the Struma valley. In October 1917 he was taken ill and admitted to Hospital, a month later he was discharged. In April 1918 2nd Lieutenant Metcalfe-Gibson briefly left the 801st and joined the 338th MT Company, but he returned in May then on the 9th May he was promoted to Lieutenant. Lieutenant Metcalfe-Gibson relinquished his commission on completion of his service 26th February 1920.

2nd Lieutenant Cecil Worssam

Cecil Worssam started his military career as a private in the Honorary Artillery Company and first served overseas in France in December 1914. He returned home in November 1915 to take up a commission with the 2/24th London Regiment part of the newly formed 60th London Division. The division moved to France in June 1916 before moving on to Salonika in November of the same year. While in Salonika, 2nd Lieutenant Worssam transferred to the Army Service Corps joining the 801st MT Company in July 1917. 2nd Lieutenant Worssam took over command of the detachment collecting hay at Nigoslav in the Struma valley. In November 1917 he was transferred to the Base Mechanical Transport Depot at Kalamaria near Salonika, from there he went on to India serving in the ASC IA before joining the 1/34th Sikh Pioneers Battalion when he was promoted to Lieutenant. When he left the army in 1922 he had reached the rank of Captain.

2nd Lieutenant McCraith

In 1901 the McCraith family, originally from Scotland, were living in Nottingham and Malcolm McCraith was working as a Steam Engineer. In 1910 he emigrated to Canada, where he worked in a foundry and machine and fitting workshops. He enlisted into the 30th Battalion C.E.F. at New Westminster British Colombia March 1915 then transferred to the 47th Battalion (3rd reinforcing draft). His rank was Lance Corporal but he was briefly Acting Transport Sergeant at Vernon Camp B.C. In November 1915 the 47th were sent to England but a month later, before they moved to France, Lance Corporal McCraith accepted a commission in the Army Service Corps.

2nd Lieutenant McCraith’s A.S.C. service began at the M.T. Depot Grove Park, then 637 MT Company Grove Park, followed by Works Officer 80th Sge Btty R.G.A. Shoeburyness, then back to the M.T. Depot Grove Park and on to the M.T. Depot Bulford before going overseas to Egypt in June 1916. Initially Attached to the Base M.T. Depot Alexandria he was sent to the 644 M.T. Company, Heavy Repair Workshop, Alexandria for instruction in stores before moving on to Salonika at the end of July.

In Salonika he served with the 598th M.T. Companyy 4th Base M.T. Depot but was then Admitted to the 5th Canadian General Hospital with Enteritis. He was discharged to the 376th Coy, attached to the 43rd Siege Battery just a few days later. While working with the 43rd Siege battery some traumatic incident such as an enemy bombing raid must have taken place as he was admitted to hospital again this time the 4th Canadian General Hospital with Neurasthenia. Three weeks later he was Classed “A” by the medical board at Summer Hill Camp and discharged to the M.T. Base Depot.

On the 20th March 1917 he joined the 801st M.T. Company to replace 2nd Lieutenant Foucard but he only stayed for two months before moving on to the 660th M.T. Company. Just a month later he was back in the 5th Canadian General Hospital this time for Debility (weakness).After being discharged to the Base MT depot , he was back with the 43rd Siege Battery, this time with 990 MT Company as they departed for Egypt.

Over the next two years 2nd Lieutenant McCraith would serve on and off in a number of ASC units in Palestine and Egypt, have six more visits to hospital, was court marshalled twice, once for drunkenness and once for being absent without leave and yet despite his troubles he was promoted to Lieutenant. Lieutenant McCraith survived the war returning to England in June 1919 where he was demobilised before heading back to Canada in August of the same year.