Norman GREEN, SERGEANT 1554
* Born: July 1891 at Darlington
* Son of: George and Maria Green, Haughton-le-Skerne
* Local Address: Haughton-le-Skerne
* Father's Occupation: Storekeeper at Railway Wagon Works
* Siblings: One sister, position in family 2
* Pre-War Occupation: Engineer's Clerk, W E Dove and Company
* Enlisted: 25 April 1912 at Darlington
* Regiment: 1st/5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI)
* Died: Of wounds, April 1916
* Age: 24
* Buried: Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France
Norman Green was born in Darlington in July 1891 to George and Maria Green. George Green was born in Windlestone near Bishop Auckland and Maria was from Lincoln. George Green and Maria Binks were married in St John’s Church, Darlington on 5 July 1888. George and Maria had three children but one died in childhood. Norman Green’s older sister Eva was born in 1890, while George and Maria were living in Northgate, Darlington.
By 1901 the family had moved to Haughton-le-Skerne, to a dwelling in the village street not far from one of the village pubs - The Grey Horse - where they could still be found in 1911. In the 1911 census George was described as a storekeeper at the Railway Wagon Works and Norman as an engineer’s clerk. On his Attestation Certificate, Norman gave the name of his employer as W E Dove and Company, of Darlington. His sister Eva was a milliner.
Norman Green’s service record exists and we know that he enlisted in the Territorial Force on 25 April 1912 for a period of four years “provide His Majesty should so long require your services”. The Territorial Force was the volunteer and part-time reserve component of the British Army and was originally envisaged as a home defence force for service during wartime. Norman enlisted with 5/DLI which recruited mainly from south-east Durham including Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool. The commanding officer of 5/DLI was Lieutenant-Colonel G O Spence of Preston Park, another local man.
Norman was medically examined on the day he enlisted and was measured at 5ft 10in tall with a 36in chest, expandable by 3in. No weight is recorded so it seems that Captain George G Farquhar who carried out the medical did not judge it necessary to weigh him. Norman’s vision and physical development were described as good and he was duly passed “Fit for Service”.
Norman’s Military History Sheet in his service record shows that he was in England from 25 April 1912 to 4 August 1914, and was embodied on 5 August 1914. “Embodied” meant that a Territorial Battalion was required for full-time service, so Norman was no longer a part-time soldier, no longer one of Kitchener’s “Saturday Night Soldiers” as they were disparagingly known. One of the conditions of full-time service at that time was that a territorial soldier could be required to serve anywhere in the United Kingdom. When war was declared, it was decided that territorials were needed for the war effort and on 18 September 1914 Norman signed an agreement to serve outside the United Kingdom. This was a voluntary agreement and a territorial soldier was not compelled to agree to the change in terms, although many thousands did in the patriotic spirit of the time. Norman had been promoted to corporal on 17 July 1914 and this was his rank when he entered full-time service.
A more detailed description of the activities and movements of 5/DLI during the period from August 1914 until the start of the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 can be found in Allan Raine’s story.
The Battalion War Diary records that 5/DLI were in action repeatedly during 1915 and into 1916. On 12 May 1915 the battalion marched through Ypres and moved into trenches in Sanctuary and Hooge Woods. Later in May they were involved in the Battle of Bellewaerde Ridge. During this battle, Capt R W Pearson, ‘C’ Company Commander was killed. It was Capt Pearson who had written to the parents of Allan Raine, another Haughton-le-Skerne soldier, who had died a few weeks earlier, on 26 April. By coincidence, it was Capt Pearson who had signed Norman Green’s Attestation Certificate when he joined the Territorials in Darlington on 25 April 1912.
On 23 May the diary recorded:
“Germans attacked m trench on N-E side of Sanctuary Wood. Somme Companies gassed and many casualties”.
The next entry on 25 May:
“Battalion less C Company relieved and returned to C rest camp near Brierlen. C hang on to switch trench”.
The following day:
“C Coy stragglers return to rest camp”
The routine for the next months was for 5/DLI to spend a few days in the front-line trenches before being relieved by another battalion. They then moved into support or reserve trenches with rest periods in various different billets initially in Armentières. During the rest periods - apart from further training – the men had Sunday church parades, kit and weapon inspections and occasional six-hour passes to visit the town. On one occasion, use of baths was sufficiently unusual to merit a particular mention. On a more sobering note, on 28 September 1915 Commander-in-Chief Sir John French issued a note drawing attention to the prevalence of “sleeping on post” and that in future the “extreme penalty” would be awarded for this heinous offence.
In August, the CO of 5/DLI, Lieutenant-Colonel G O Spence was on leave and the battalion was commanded by Capt A L Raimes, although he was later replaced in temporary command by Capt W T Wilkinson DSO of 4/East Yorks. Captain Raimes survived the war and wrote a history of 5/DLI published in 1931.
The battalion’s periods in trenches normally lasted four to six days at a time, and the men occupied various different trenches mostly in the triangle formed by Ypres, Armentières and Poperinghe. Sometimes the battalion suffered heavy shelling, other times were described in the Battalion War Diary as
“generally speaking …quiet the whole time”.
Rest periods in Armentières varied in duration, but were sometimes as short as two days. On 12 November 1915 the battalion marched to new billets at Oulsterseen, about 18km south-west of Ypres. The men were at Oulstersteen with no trench duty until 20 December and then moved into the Ypres Salient at Dickebusch very close to Ypres, where the men were billeted in huts. The battalion spent Christmas Day 1915 in trenches in Armagh Wood. Lieutenant-Colonel Spence, who was at that time the Battalion War Diary’s author reported that:
“Christmas Day passed quietly but the truce of last year was not repeated”.
In January the battalion was in trenches when Lieutenant-Colonel Spence reported that they
“had rather a rough time”.
Artillery bombardment was followed by enemy retaliation using ‘crumps’ and ‘whizz bangs’ (a crump was a German 5.9in shell and a whizz bang was a light artillery shell where the ‘whizz’ of the shell was heard before the ‘bang’ from the gun).
The battalion headquarters was hit
“accounting for two majors [including Major Raimes], the Medical Officer and a sergeant-major”.
Fortunately, none were seriously injured and the battalion’s total casualties
“only [according to Lieutenant-Colonel Spence’s report] amounted to two killed and 12 wounded”.
In February the men moved into trenches at Hill 60, close to Ypres, where they had a ‘fairly lively time’ from trench mortars and rifle grenades. In the 12 days leading up to 18 February, casualties were 12 killed and 36 wounded.
Lieutenant-Colonel Spence reported that there was much bad weather that winter, lots of rain and sometimes heavy snow. The trenches were deep in parts and owing to lack of dugouts ‘the men had a roughish time’. However, Lieutenant-Colonel Spence was proud to report that
“feet suffered but we were proud to retain our record of not having a single case of trench feet”.
The next tour in trenches at Hill 60 in March resulted in 12 killed and 15 wounded. At the end of March the battalion moved several kilometres to Divisional Reserve at Locre Huts, between Ypres and Bailleul. Norman was suffering from scabies and he was taken to a dressing station and then transferred to a CCS (Casualty Clearing Station) where he was discharged on 8 April. On 7 April the battalion moved into trenches at Kemmel, 3km away. During this time Lieutenant-Colonel Spence was once again on leave and the Battalion War Diary was written by one of his captains.
On 15 April the battalion was relieved by 4/Yorks. It was mentioned that in the period up to13 April, 5/DLI had been shelled and ‘sausaged’ resulting in two officers wounded, one OR killed and 16 ORs wounded. There is no mention of casualties that day but it was on 14 April that Sgt Norman Green sustained gunshot wounds (GSW) to the back, resulting in injuries from which he died a week later.
Norman’s service record includes a “Casualty Form – Active Service”. This states that he was slightly wounded on 14 April but still on duty, the following day Norman suffered his fatal wounds. At first Sgt Green was taken to a CCS behind the front line but was then admitted to 14th General Hospital at Wimereux, north of Boulogne, where he died a week later at 04.30 on Saturday 22 April 1916. A telegram was sent to the War Office in London informing them of his death from
“G.S.W. Back Fracture Sacrum Inform Relative”.
George and Maria Green had lost their only son and they would soon learn of this.
Norman left a will which as was customary had been kept in his pay book. It is likely that the original along with other effects were returned to his parents. A copy is filed in his service record and is certified as a true copy. Norman had written:
“In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to my father George Green, Haughton-le-Skerne”.
The will is dated 23 April 1915 and was witnessed by Sgt George Ernest White, also of 5/DLI. George Ernest White is named on the War Memorial Cross, Haughton-le-Skerne along with Norman Green and 16 others. George White was two years older than Norman, was also a sergeant and had joined 5/DLI as a territorial soldier in 1909. It is certain that they had known each other in Haughton-le-Skerne and may even have been friends. Sadly, George White was killed a month after witnessing Norman Green’s will.
On 22 May 1919, George Green completed the standard form required by the War Office on the death of a soldier, detailing the deceased soldier’s living relatives. The only people named were George and Maria, then 56 and 52 years old respectively, and Eva their daughter aged 28. The form needed to be certified by a minister or magistrate and was signed by J C Fellowes, Rector of Haughton-le-Skerne. The form was sent to the DLI Infantry Records Department at York in order that they ‘may be enabled to dispose of the plaque and scroll in commemoration of the soldier named overleaf in accordance with the wishes of His Majesty the King’.
In 1919 and 1920 George Green was sent the three service medals which had been awarded to his son - the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, affectionately known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after a popular Daily Mail comic strip of the time.
One final document in Norman Green’s Service Record shows that on 29 July 1927, George Green, by then a widower, wrote to the War Office asking for Norman’s date of enlistment. He needed this information to complete his old age pension application. He was 75. The War Office replied promptly.
Sgt Norman Green was buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, which is also the last resting place of Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, who wrote one of the most famous poems of the war, In Flanders Fields.
Sgt Green was commemorated after the war on the War Memorial Cross in Haughton-le-Skerne, on the Roll Of Honour in Darlington Public Library, and in the Book of Remembrance to 5/DLI in St Thomas’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees.
Norman’s mother Maria died at the age of 59, his father George outlived his wife by almost 19 years and died aged 83. The family headstone in St Andrew’s churchyard is inscribed simply:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
MARIA
THE BELOVED WIFE OF GEORGE GREEN
DIED 22ND MAY 1926 AGED 59 YEARS.
ALSO OF THE ABOVE GEORGE GREEN
DIED 26TH MARCH 1945 AGED 83 YEARS.
ALSO SGT. NORMAN GREEN 5TH DLI
SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED OF WOUNDS AT WIMEREUX, FRANCE
APRIL 22ND 1916 AGED 24 YEARS.