HOW PRIVATE CRISP WON THE MILITARY MEDAL
Private G Crisp, MM, son of Mr & Mrs E Crisp, Badsey Post Office, has (under pressure from home) sent his sister the following account of the circumstances under which he won his decoration:
“It happened like this. We were defending a village during Fritz’s bid for Calais. We had beaten off all attacks, and were thinking that all was OK. However, he had managed to break through on the flanks and had almost surrounded us. We could get no communication with our BHQ, so things began to look black. Well I was given a message which was to be delivered to BHQ at all costs. I managed to get to the village all right and made my way to where the BHQ was. What a shock I had as I got there to see that Fritz was occupying the place! How I escaped I really do not know. First I dodged from one house to another, with bullets whizzing everywhere. Still, I managed it, and eventually made my way to a HQ which I found to be Gloucesters of Harry’s Division. Here the message was received, and after getting a good drink of scotch from the Gloucester’s CO I managed to get back all right in time to lead out the company to where we had to retire to. We could only get out one way, and just managed it by the skin of our teeth. I was quite prepared for a trip to Germany as our case seemed hopeless. What with shells and machine gun fire I hope I shall never see a time like it again. Still, here I am quite in the pink and hope to keep so.”