Rifleman William John Sewell Coggle of the Shankill area of Belfast died on 1st December 1943. He served with 2nd Battalion, The London irish Rifles in Italy.
Rifleman
7022493
Rifleman William John Sewell Coggle (7022493) served in 2nd Battalion, The London Irish Rifles, Royal Ulster Rifles during the Second World War. He was the son of Robert George Coggle and Eliza Jane Coggle of 62 Malvern Street, Belfast.
In civilian life, he worked at the SHort and Harland Aircraft Factory, Belfast and had two years’ service in the British Army at his time of death. Rifleman Coggle died on 1st December 1943 aged 20 years old. His grave is in Section VIII, Row B, Grave 16 of Sangro River War Cemetery, Italy. His headstone bears the inscription:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The family of Rifleman Coggle presented 1st Shankill Somme Association with a 25-pounder field gun that now stands as a memorial on the Shankill Road, Belfast. A plaque reads:
This field gun was presented to the 1st Shankill Somme Association by the family of Rifleman 7022493 W.J.S. Coggle R.U.R. K.I.A. WW2 Italy 1-12-1943. In remembrance. It stands here also as a memorial to the memory of the men and women from the Greater Shankill who throughout the war years 1939-1945 paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of their country.