John's Story.
Birkenhead News 26 July 1916
Died from Wounds.
A Brave and Patient Patient.
After receiving word that their son, Machine Gunner J O’Loughlin, had been seriously wounded, Mr. and Mrs. O’Loughlin of 43, Queensbury Street, Birkenhead, have now had the sad news that he has since died in hospital. A letter from the sister-in-charge of the hospital says :- “I am grieved to tell you of the death of your son. He was admitted to the hospital on the 18th suffering from wounds and fractures of the right leg, which was amputated. His wounds were badly infected, and in spite of all we could do he succumbed to blood poisoning, and passed away last night.
He was attended by the Catholic chaplain, who will bury him in the military cemetery attached to this camp. He was a good patient and brave in his illness.”
Pte. O’Loughlin, who was a dock labourer, was called up at the beginning of the war, and went to the front in April 1915, with the King’s Liverpool Regt. Had he lived another fortnight he would have completed his time in the Army. He was educated at St. Laurence’s R.C. School, and was a member of the Young Men’s Society. He was 25 years of age, his last two birthdays being spent in the trenches. The late soldier had a number of friends in the town who deplore his loss, and sympathise with his bereaved parents.