Alwyn Gearing was born in Tunstall, Suffolk, in 1890, the third son of Frederick and Isabel (née Alexander). In 1911, Alwyn was working as a groom at East Ravendale near Grimsby in Lincolnshire. He subsequently worked as an attendant at St Audry’s Hospital.

Before the start of the war, Alwyn was in the Territorial Army serving with the 3/1st East Anglian Field Ambulance. On 29th October 1915, he requested a transfer to the regular army and signed forms declaring that as a territorial soldier, he consented to serve overseas. He was subsequently transferred to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the Bedford Regiment for training. On 25th September 1917, Alwyn was on his way to France with a draft of men for the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment. It was not until the 11th October that the forty men joined the battalion in a field at a camp near Swan Chateau, just to the southwest of Ypres.

On 26th October, the battalion was put on an hour’s notice to be ready to support the attack to begin the Second Battle of Passchendaele. On 28th October, Alwyn arrived on the front line for the first time, when his battalion was sent to relieve the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in what was called the Tower Hamlets sector near to the Menin Road. After three days, they were relieved from the front line and placed in reserve trenches and dugouts in Bodmin Copse and Jar Trench. While in support, the copse was heavily gas-shelled by the German artillery, causing several casualties.

On 3rd November, Alwyn and the battalion were relieved and taken to camp by bus, arriving in the early hours of the following day. Between the 6th and 8th November, the battalion found themselves in a forward position once more, this time engaged in salvage work – the collection of equipment from the battlefield. On the 9th November, the battalion was stood down and given two day’s rest. The battalion war diary recorded:

“9th to 10th November 1917: The Battalion rested and carried out training. 35 OR’s who were gassed at BODMIN COPSE were sent to hospital.”

Alwyn was one of those who suffered from the gas attacks. He was treated at the 139th Field Ambulance, before being taken to the No.17 Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Siding near Lijssenthoek. After two days in their care, he was put on an ambulance train and transferred to the 1st Canadian General Hospital in Etaples, France. After that, he was sent back to England on 8th December, to the 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester. Alwyn was discharged from hospital on 25th February 1918 and he was given ten days leave to return home to Ufford. After his leave was finished, Alwyn returned to the Bedfordshire Regiment. 

In June, Alwyn was on leave again and, on the 16th, he married Florence Gooch at St Margaret’s Church, Leiston. On 12th July 1918, shortly after his leave was over, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment and, in late August, Alwyn joined the rest of his new battalion in the field near Reiz Du Vinage to the north of Bethune in France. On 8th November 1918, just before the Armistice was called, Alwyn was admitted to hospital again, this time in Camiers near Boulogne. Four days later, he was transported back to the 3rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, Yorkshire, suffering from influenza. He remained in hospital until 29th November.

Alwyn was demobilised on 18th February 1919 and, for his war service, he received the British War and Victory Medals. He died in 1961 and is buried in Bredfield, Suffolk.