John was born in Felixstowe in 1900, his father John was a dock worker and his mother Caroline was a housewife.  He had 4 brothers and a sister, the family lived in Beach Station Road but moved to 6 Manor Terrace before 1918.

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John served in 7th Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment.  He died on 8th November 1918, during the Advance to Victory in the area of Loos and the Somme, just a few days before the end of the war, aged 19.  He is commemorated on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial.

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John's Cousin once removed is Ernest Grayling who was also killed in WW1 and is named on the Felixstowe War memorial.  Ernest's father Jeremiah was the brother of Thomas who was the grandfather of John.

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