THOMAS WILLIAM HOLMES

“SUDDENLY THERE CAME A MOMENT WHEN BOTH GUNS CEASED SIMULTANEOUSLY. IT MEANT BOTH CREWS WERE RELOADING AT THE SAME MOMENT. BY NOW HOLMES WAS WITHIN BOMBING DISTANCE. HE PULLED THE PIN OF THE GRENADE AND HURLED IT…”
Lieutenant-Colonel GF McFarland

homas William Holmes braved another glance from the relative safety of his cover. He saw the boggy mud surrounding his shell hole, the rain pelting down to turn the ridge to sludge, and the Germans on either side of the pillbox, who, having seen him, twisted their machine guns to fire a burst in his direction. He ducked in time, but only just. The bullets flew over his head as he lay prone once more, the boys from the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles (4th CMR) around him all wearing the same forlorn expression, not one knowing what to do. Holmes exhaled, his usual boyish grin nowhere to be