Alan Cyril Balleine was born in Saint Peters of Jersey in the Channel Islands, England on July 11th, 1898. He was a single father of John Alfred Balleine who was also born in St. Peters. His son was named after his father and his mother's name was Marthe Louisa Biard. Balleine was part of the Church of England which was the tradition for where he lived. During his enlistment on the 12th of February, 1916 Balleine was described to be 5 feet 6, had dark features (dark complexion, black hair, and black eyes), and to look 18 years old, which would have been true five months later. He has never served in any Military Force and was working as a Clerk beforehand. Military Movements
The day of his arrival in England on October 6th, 1916 he was "Taken on Strength" to the 69th Battalion and soon was transferred to the 23rd Battalion on the 18th of October where he spent a month in a small camp called Dibgate. He then "reverts to the rank to proceed O/s (overseas)" and is drafted on the same day to the 14th Battalion where he will stay until April 9th, 1917. …show more content…
The 14th B.n marched to the reserve at Berthanval Wood Brigade on the 16th of December until the 21st where the battalion was relieved; Units then proceeded to the Divisional Reserve Billets at Estree Cauchy. A day later, at 8:00 a.m the 14th B.n lead the march (The order of the march being: 14th B.n, 15th B.n, 13th B.n, 16th B.n, 3rd Brigade Machine Gun Company, 3rd Canadian Trench Mortar Battery, 1st Field Company Canadian Engineers), arriving in the billets at Bruay at 1:00 p.m. During Christmas the men were served a good dinner with Port wine and cigars. There was also a mass for Roman Catholics celebrated in the