Roll of Honour - Huntingdonshire - Houghton-with-Wyton

Col. W. E. Green, D.F.C., T.D., the Commanding Officer of the Hunts. Territorial Battalion, who, we regret to learn, is reported to have died from wounds received in Flanders. Col. Greer was known to everyone as a great soldier and a very gallant gentleman.

KNOWN TO ALL AS “WEEDY.”

Lt.-Col. Green was the very best type of English officer and gentleman, and it is no exaggeration to say that he was idolised by every man in his battalion.

He was the sort of man who is known by his nickname to everybody; the whole county knew him, and addressed him, as “Weedy,” and his kindness and courtesy were a byword.

A brilliant soldier, a daring leader and a Territorial commander of quite exceptional ability, Col. Green had long foreseen the coming of the present war. Many times he prophesied that the “showdown” would come in 1940, and he used to add that when it did, “my battalion will be among the first out there.”

How tragically true that forecast was to prove to be is now only too well-known.

The younger son of the late Mr, H. D. Green, of Leeds, and of the late Mrs. F. Hull-Ryde, Col. Green was also a nephew of the late Mrs. Arthur Smith, of Buckden. Forty-one years of age, he was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, and, on leaving school at the age of 17, he joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. Later he gained a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, and served with great distinction during the last war.

He was awarded the D.F.C. for shooting down a large number of enemy planes, and was one of the earliest holders of this notable decoration.

A DENTAL SURGEON.

On being demobilised in 1919, he became a pupil with Mr. T. P. Brown, of Huntingdon, the well-known dental surgeon. He received his professional education at Birmingham University and Dental Hospital, and on qualifying in 1924, returned to Huntingdon and entered into partnership with Mr. Brown in 1926. He had remained with Mr. Brown ever since, and practised at St. Ives.

Col. Green was a member of the Representative Board of the British Dental Association, and for some years was honorary dental surgeon to Huntingdon County Hospital.

Col. Green joined the Hunts. Territorial Battalion on its formation in 1920, and had recently received the T.D. decoration on completing, 20 years with the Territorial Army. On being promoted from captain to major he was second-in-command to Col. A. H. Mellows, and when the latter retired in 1934 he was promoted Lieut.-Col. and assumed command of the battalion.

He was loved by every man who served under him, and he possessed to a singular degree the capacity to draw the best out of his men. During the three weeks of terrific fighting in Belgium which culminated in his being fatally wounded, he inspired the battalion to deeds of great heroism by his own personal example, and the safe homecoming of so many officers and men was marred by the tragedy of his death and also that of Capt. Johnson.

BOOK ON TERRITORIALS

A noted student of military affairs and a clever tactician, Col. Green published only last year, a book called “The Territorials in the Next War,” which was in the series edited by Capt. Liddell Hart, entitled “The Next War.” In this book Col. Green claimed that the Territorial Army was unique among the armed forces of the world, and he added: “The Territorial Army is a body of enthusiasts of natural soldiers . . . It is an outlet for the martial energies of the nation, an instrument for training the men who are to be leaders in any future emergency, and the basis on which the national effort can be built up if the need arises.”

The volume was very well received and the wisdom of many of Col. Green’s suggestions and ideas has been proved up to the hilt by the subsequent development of events.

Col. Green married in September, 1929, at Wimbledon, Miss Cicely Berry, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Berry, of Wimbledon Hill, S.W. He and his wife lived for some time at Hartford before moving to “Parkside,” St. Ives.

The heartfelt sympathy of the whole county, and of ail connected with her husband’s battalion has been extended: to Mrs. Green in her tragic loss. Two young sons, Michael and Christopher, are also bereaved.

HUNTINGDON GRAMMAR SCHOOL WAR MEMORIAL