257724 Sgt. James Arthur Parnell MM.British Army East Yorkshire Regiment My grandfather, James Parnell, served with the East Yorkshire Regiment in France in WW1, enlisting in 1914 at the age of 15 having lied about his age.
Wounded and awarded the MM, he was discharged with the West Yorkshire Regiment because, I believe, so few of the East Yorks survived. He was a Sgt by age 16, though it would appear he was discharged in the rank of Private, so he may have held acting rank.
I have two documents that might be of interest: one from the Oxford Archive, the invitation by the Lord Mayor of Hull for his award of the MM in April 1919, the second, the Army citation that went with his award. There are two family stories about how he won the MM. The one I believe most likely is that he picked up a German grenade and threw it from his trench, sustaining damage to his right hand with the loss of part of his thumb, his index finger and part of his middle finger and a large burn to his forehead, all clearly visible throughout his life.
The second story was that he escaped from capture with his CO by killing the German guard by thrusting his head down on his own bayonet. Of course, as with many of his comrades in arms, he never spoke of his days in the Army, honorable though they were and actively tried (unsuccessfully) to persuade me not to join the Royal Air Force.
Needless to say, we are deeply proud of my grandfather's war record.
|