A tale of incredible bravery hit the newspapers in Salford 100 years ago this week as local soldier was awarded one of the country’s highest honours for gallantry in war.
Sergeant A. Smith – sadly his first name seems to be lost to history – risked his life to retrieve the bodies of three killed Eccles men from a burning mine crater.
Serving with the B Company of Lancashire Fusiliers, dubbed the ‘Eccles Pals’, Sgt Smith was serving in northern France at the time.
He reportedly joined the British Army to avenge the death of his brother, the decorated Sergeant Major Smith, who died while serving with the 1st Somerset Light Infantry.
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Allegedly his older brother way bayoneted to death by German soldiers as he lay wounded on the ground.
He was posthumously awarded the Medallie Militaire by the French government for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force.
The younger brother’s moment of glory would come on 10 December 1915 as Sgt Smith was on duty at an advanced sentry post.
A huge crack like thunder exploded below his company when the Germans detonated a mine, instantly killing three Eccles Pals and burying them under a mountain of soil, blood and debris.
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The killed soldiers were just 26 years old.
Private Sam Hamer, of Parrin Lane in Winton, had only been married 18 months previously and was survived by his young widow.
Before the war Private J Street was a coal delivery driver with the Eccles Co-op Society and was living with his mother in Phillip Street in Eccles.
Their final comrade Private Holt was from Pym Steet in Patricroft.
Determined not to let these men become another ‘unknown soldier’ statistic, Sgt Smith risked his life to crawl bodily into the deafening No Man’s Land with fire falling all around him.
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Progress was painfully slow as he dug through the earth with his hands to recover the bloodied corpses.
The Eccles and Patricroft Journal reported how he heard plaintive cries of ‘Sergeant’ echoing across the battlefield.
The shouts appeared to be coming from the detonated mine crater, but he was furious to discover this was a German ruse – firing flares into the night sky the opposing soldiers called out in English to lure Sgt Smith into a potential ambush.
Pressing on, Sgt Smith took a sniper’s bullet to the face for his trouble, but found his fallen Pals and using a rope tied around his waist dragged them one-by-one back toward home lines.
Without his efforts, the men’s bodies would have remained buried in the mud.
But Sgt Smith was extremely modest.
Upon hearing the news of his recommendation for the Distinguished Conduct Medal – at the time the oldest British award for gallantry – he spoke only of his fellow soldiers’ bravery and played down his own part in the rescue.
Writing to Mr A. J. Albrow, who was in charge of the Eccles Pals Comfort Fund, he said: “If Eccles folk could have seen how their men’s courage and endurance were put to the test during the period in which the unfortunate casulaties occurred they would thrill with pride.”
The organisation was locally organised and sent out such luxuries as gloves, socks, chocolates and cigarettes to local men fighting in France.
He continued: “I beg to thank you for your generous appreciation of what I consider to be my duty as a soldier.
“I assure you that any member of my company would have done exactly the same as I did and I am rather afraid the affair has been exaggerated.”
Although he was born in Somerset, his experiences with the Fusiliers made Sgt Smith “a naturalised Lancashire lad”, in his own words.
He writes: “Although not an Eccles man I consider it an honour to belong to B Company whose officers and men share the same sort of grit – which is peculiarly British.”
One can only hope that this brave and modest man survived the carnage of the First World War.
Smith is a common name – and without a first name to check researchers are a little hamstrung – but there was a Sergeant A. Smith who served with the 7th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers.
According to the war records he was killed on 27 September 1918 on active duty in France.
His name is now borne on the Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery Memorial at Haucourt in Pas-de-Calais, France.
