Rest and the provision of some working parties for the Royal
Engineers continued.
The harsh trench conditions continued to generate illness
among the men and it seems to have been around this time (although the precise
date has not been established) that one of Tunstill’s original recruits, Pte. Sydney Hoar (see 19th May), was evacuated to England suffering the
effects of trench fever. He would spend at least six weeks in hospital in
Glasgow.
L.Cpl. Stephen Grady (see 17th June), serving with the Brigade Trench Mortar
Battery, was reprimanded having been found to have been absent from roll call.
Pte. Herbert Willis
Pickles (see 29th July),
who had been wounded in July, was discharged from Edinburgh War Hospital and
posted to 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs.
A payment of £3 16s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Mark Whitelock (see 3rd August),who had died of wounds in August; the payment would go to his widow, Sarah Ann.
GRASSINGTON N.C.O. AWARDED MILITARY MEDAL
According to the official record, Company Sergeant Major
William Oldfield, of Grassington, was on October 4th, awarded the
Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry in the field. His Battalion was
attacking near Le Sars, when he, with the help of a comrade, brought in two
wounded men from the middle of No Man’s Land under very heavy shrapnel and
machine-gun fire.
Writing to his sister, Sergeant Major Oldfield says: “I was
one of the few who got through the German wire, along with Sergeant Davis (see 20th October). I helped to bandage some wounded men,
and then we started to make our way back. All the time they were firing on us,
we dare not get up to walk back, but had to crawl out of one shell hole into
another, helping the wounded along as best we could. Altogether, it took me
about two hours to get about fifty yards”.
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CSM Billy Oldfield
Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton
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Sgt. James Davis
Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton
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