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Rflmn. William Mariner VC
British Army 2nd Btn. B Coy King's Royal Rifle Corps
from:Lower Broughton, Manchester.
(d.1st July 1916)
William Mariner died on the 1st July 1916, aged 34 and is commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial in France. he was the son of Mrs. Alice Wignall, of 18, Fletcher St., Lower Broughton, Manchester.
An extract from The London Gazette dated 23rd June, 1915, records the following:-"During a violent thunderstorm on the night of 22nd May, 1915, he left his trench near Cambrin, and crept out through the German wire entanglements till he reached the emplacement of a German machine gun which had been damaging our parapets and hindering our working parties. After climbing on the top of the German parapet he threw a bomb in under the roof of the gun emplacement and heard some groaning and the enemy running away. After about a quarter of an hour he heard some of them coming back again, and climbed up on the other side of the emplacement and threw another bomb among them left-handed. He then lay still while the Germans opened a heavy fire on the wire entanglement behind him, and it was only after about an hour that he was able to crawl back to his own trench. Before starting out he had requested a serjeant to open fire on the enemy's trenches as soon as he had thrown his bombs. Rifleman Mariner was out alone for one and half hours carrying out this gallant work".
