Tuesday 24th July 1917
The adjutant
of the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, tells me that three officers and
three other ranks have been decorated. Military Crosses have been allotted to
Captain H A W Pearse, Second Lieutenant P D Sisley and Second Lieutenant A S
Trotter. Meanwhile 8721 Sergeant R T C Lansbury and 10055 Sergeant Puddiphatt
have been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and 28207 Sergeant Sinclair a
bar to his Military Medal(1).
Captain Pearse [X550/1/81]
The adjutant
of the 1st/5th Battalion has wired to say that “gongs” have been handed out
there, too. Nineteen Military Medals have been given to members of the recent
raiding party at Umbrella Hill, sixteen of them being members of the Bedfords.
Second Lieutenant Sisley [X550/1/82]
Yesterday the
6th Battalion, in the front line near Kemmel, was gassed. Today there have been
five more gas casualties as well as one man wounded and one killed by other
means. Three officers have arrived as reinfocrements.
Source: X550/2/5; X550/6/8; X550/7/1
(1) Company
Sergeant Major R T Lansbury DCM, MM would be killed in action on 20th July
1918. Sergeant J Sinclair DCM, MM would die near Ypres on 12th November 1917.
