On This Day, 19 July 1917

Birmingham Daily Post

Thursday 19 July 1917

HONOURS FOR MIDLAND SOLDIERS.

FLYING OFFICER WHO ATTACKED SEVENTEEN AEROPLANES.

Captain John Palethorpe, R.F.C., who has been awarded the Military Cross for attacking seventeen enemy aeroplanes during a recent hostile air raid, is the son of Air. O. H. Palethorpe, of Palethorpes, Ltd., Dudley Port, and before the war was a director. He was in the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and took part in the operations Suvla Bay, where was wounded. He was subsequently given a commission in the R.F.C.

Colonel R. B. Umfreville, of Hawkhurst, Bromyard, who formerly commanded a battalion in Worcester, has been awarded the D.S.O.

Sergeant Thomas Albert Smallwood, whose parents reside at 17, Glover Street, Birmingham, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field under heavy fire. Sergeant Smallwood, who is 25 years of age, belongs to the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He joined the army on September 1, 1914, and has now been at the front two years, having been once wounded in the arm. Prior to joining the forces Sergeant Smallwood was employed as a tube-drawer in Glover Street, and was an old boy of Floodgate Street Council Schools. A keen footballer, he was a member of the Britannia Tube Works Club.

The Military Medal has been awarded Bombardier W. J. Tristram, Royal Horse Artillery (24), son of Mr. E. Tristram, 3, Richmond Terrace, Friston Street, Ladywood. He had been in the army five years, and went the front in the autumn of 1914. The award is for gallantry in rescuing lieutenant who had been wounded and covered with earth. Tristram also assisted to dig out, under heavy fire, a gunner who had been almost buried.