Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me identify a friend of my great uncle, trooper Hugh 'Smoke' O'Hagan (106, 1227), an Irish-born New Zealander of the Imperial Light Horse (1st Batt).
According to a fellow trooper who spoke to the Otago Daily Times (reported in South Canterbury Times 12Aug1901, see paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SCANT19010812.2.14 ), they met in unusual circumstances, with the badly wounded Hugh shooting a Boer soldier in the thigh in the aftermath of a battle which hadn't gone well for the ILH. They both recuperated in Johannesburg Hospital, where Hugh visited his former enemy daily striking up a friendship. His friend had his leg amputated, and Hugh was bent double with a bullet lodged near his spine, which eventually killed him on the voyage home on board Brittanic.
Here's what I have gathered so far:
-Apparently the Boer soldier was 6'2'' tall (Hugh was a 5'0" jockey).
-He had a leg amputated, probably near the hip.
-The battle was probably the one at Naauwpoort on 6 Jan 1901 in which the ILH lost 20 killed and 27 wounded.
-That would mean the Boer soldier would have been fighting under De La Rey.
-Assume he was taken prisoner and treated at a hospital in Johannesburg.
-I can't find any POW records that are a direct match for date and location.
If anyone can give me any tips on where to look that would be greatly appreciated. You don't often hear stories of friendship in war like this, and I'm interested to find out who this man was and perhaps how life worked out for him. Thanks, hjo.
According to a fellow trooper who spoke to the Otago Daily Times (reported in South Canterbury Times 12Aug1901, see paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SCANT19010812.2.14 ), they met in unusual circumstances, with the badly wounded Hugh shooting a Boer soldier in the thigh in the aftermath of a battle which hadn't gone well for the ILH. They both recuperated in Johannesburg Hospital, where Hugh visited his former enemy daily striking up a friendship. His friend had his leg amputated, and Hugh was bent double with a bullet lodged near his spine, which eventually killed him on the voyage home on board Brittanic.
Here's what I have gathered so far:
-Apparently the Boer soldier was 6'2'' tall (Hugh was a 5'0" jockey).
-He had a leg amputated, probably near the hip.
-The battle was probably the one at Naauwpoort on 6 Jan 1901 in which the ILH lost 20 killed and 27 wounded.
-That would mean the Boer soldier would have been fighting under De La Rey.
-Assume he was taken prisoner and treated at a hospital in Johannesburg.
-I can't find any POW records that are a direct match for date and location.
If anyone can give me any tips on where to look that would be greatly appreciated. You don't often hear stories of friendship in war like this, and I'm interested to find out who this man was and perhaps how life worked out for him. Thanks, hjo.