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210186
2nd/Lt. Roland Hanwell "Bulldog" Harris MC
British Army 2nd London Prince Of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles
from:Hymers Avenue, Hull, England
(d.27th December 1917)
Roland Hanwell Harris was dishing out the rum to his men in the trenches, when a Moaning Minnie landed on the parapet, just above his head. Before it exploded and with great presence of mind, Roland whipped the helmet off his head and placed it over the jug of rum, so the rum ration survived (as did Roland) and, as one of his men wrote in the Regimental History "we got our rum".
I also have a series of wonderful letters, written by Roland to his Mother, Florence Edith Harris (Nee Hanwell), who lived in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire.
One letter starts as follows:- "Mother, I am an 'ero at last, a military cross has come my way, I know not how".
The citation says that it was given "for going out into no-man's-land and bandaging wounded men under constant artillery and machine gun fire".
Another letter asks his mother to send him a pricker for his Primus stove.