Roll of Honour

Rank: Corporal

Regiment: 31 Batallion de Chausseurs à pied, Army of France

Biography: Son of the Rev. Hermann Dieterlen of the French Mission, Hermon, Basutoland. Born there, 30 August 1885; educated in France; B.A., University of Nancy, 1904; studied Divinity at Montauban Seminary, where he qualified for the ministry, and at Aberdeen University (Divinity, 1909-10); appointed by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society to Barotseland, North Rhodesia. On the outbreak of war he immediately returned to France and joined his regiment, the 11th Infantry. He was wounded in action but as soon as he recovered, requested to be sent back to the Front. He was promoted Corporal in the 31st Battalion of Sharpshooters, and on 25 September 1915 the Battalion attacked near Souchez. In the desperate fighting Dieterlen was last seen severely wounded. He was officially reported ''missing'', and since the Armistice his death has been accepted. A devoted Christian, and a loyal Frenchman, he recognized at once the justice of the cause to which his country was suddenly called, and unhesitatingly put himself at her disposal. Having dedicated his life to the service of humanity, he found an equal duty and an equal glory in carrying the Gospel to the heathen, and in fighting enemies to those spiritual ideals which are essential to the progress of the race. In our University, of which he cherished grateful recollections, he is remembered for the purity and kindliness of his character, and for his keenness as a student.

Date of Death: 25 September 1915

Burial Details: Buried at the French National Cemetery of Notre Dame de Lorette, Com. Of Ablain, St. Nazaire.

Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.

If you have photographs of anyone listed in the Roll of Honour (preferably in service uniform) or have any questions about this resource, please email memoriam@abdn.ac.uk.