At this point in the war battalions were still commonly erecting ‘regimental’ crosses/markers made by unit carpenters over the graves of their Fallen and this was the case with Corporal Faultless. The 15th Battalion Memorial Project has photographs from this period of the grave markers for Cpl WE Faultless, Lieutenant Botterell, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall and Sergeant Haley. The battalion had obviously adopted a celtic style cross for its markers which in itself is not unusual as celtic type crosses were traditionally used in England and many CEF battalions used it for their Fallen. However, the 15th Battalion’s celtic cross had a distinctive black mourning ribbon painted on the lower shaft of the cross – something that we have not found on images of other unit’s crosses. It is also interesting to note that the large battalion Vimy cross erected on 10 April near Nine Elms and which now resides in the Regimental Museum is simply a larger scale but exact copy of these earlier celtic crosses (less the mourning ribbon).
NOK: Son of Mrs. Haley, of 12, Holt St., Bolton, England.