Memorials & Monuments
on the Isle of Wight
- Biography -
- John Stanley Hearn -

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, November 17, 1916 Page 2

The Late Lieut. J.S. Hearn.
Writing in the current issue of Whitwell Parish Church Magazine the Rev. J.C. Orr says: -
The death of Mr. Hearn will be felt as a personal loss to many in Whitwell. He was a dear personal friend of mine, but of the intimacy of that relationship I will not speak, beyond what I have already said of him in Church as an example to help others. He was so well known to us here, and recognised (as one wrote of him from the front) as "a very gallant gentleman."
He loved the Church and its services in which he so often assisted in choir, or as server, thurifer, or cross bearer.
On the last occasion that he was with us he carried the cross in uniform before the procession, and after the service the last time I saw him in Church he was kneeling alone in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and I knew that he was vowing himself to our Lord as one of the knights of old. It is characteristic of him, and his thought for others, that he wrote to his mother before going into action in a letter to be delivered by the Chaplain if he should not return: - "The only memorial I desire is in the hearts of those I love, and at God's Altar, and if you care to carry out your idea of erecting or assisting to erect in Whitwell a figure of Him who died, to proclaim the glorious message of Forgiveness and Hope to those who pass by." He was, it appears, the only one of 17 officers who succeeded in reaching the German trench which was the objective of the attack, and after seeing two of his men killed in the attempt to establish contact with troops on the left, he undertook that dangerous work himself, and fell shot through the head.
Whether the project referred to above can be carried out or not, we at Whitwell are grateful for that token of his love and thought for the Church in which it was his delight to worship, and he will certainly have that memorial for which he asks at God's Altar.

ST. JOHN'S, WROXALL, PARISH MAGAZINE

December 1916

How he Fell.

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hearn, of "Clevelands," have received the following letter from a brother officer of second-Lieut. John Stanley Hearn, B.A., Sussex Regiment, who was killed in action on Oct. 12. We insert it with pride.
"It is with great sorrow I write to let you know particulars of your son's death. First let me say, as Scott said of Oates, 'He was a gallant gentleman.' He was more than that. For perfect bravery his was one of the best deeds I have yet heard of. What happened was that we attacked, and he was one of the few officers (if not the only one) out of 17 to gain the German line. He immediately set to work to make it secure, and saw the weak spot was the left flank, which was in the air, so to speak, and was not connected up with the battalion on our left. He sent two men over to try and get in touch with them, and saw them shot in front of him. So he immediately tried the same task himself, oblivious of the danger and quite cool and collected. He was shot through the head - and died instantaneously and painlessly - when half way across. The machine guns were very thick ... John was quite cheery before the attack, and his death is a great loss to the battalion. The men were telling me yesterday that they wished they had him back, as he was very popular with all ranks."