Private Harold Bernard Lees Royal Welsh Fusiliers Date of death: 20/07/1916 (aged 26)Withernsea WW1 Memorial, Queens Street. The memorial was erected in 1923 at a cost of £451, the funds for which were collected through public subscription. A service of dedication was held in 1924. Inscribed in four columns, are the names of sixty-four men killed in World War I.
BORN WORKSOP 1891. ONLY SON OF JOHN BRADSHAW LEES & ELIZABETH LEES, OF 5 BR0OK STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS) AND 2 COLONIAL STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESSS) AND 4, QUEENS GARDENS, GODDARD AVENUE, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HE HAD ENLISTED AT CARAVON, JOINING THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS. A RESERVIST WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY SERVED IN INDIA. A SINGLE MAN, AND FORMER RECKITTS CANISTER WORKER. HE LIVED IN WITHERNSEA.
HE REJOINED THE ARMY IN AUGUST 1914. SERVED WITH THE 2ND ROYAL WELSH FUSILIER. KILLED BY SHELL FIRE, ON 20/07/1916, AGED 26. AWARDED THE MILITARY MEDAL (MM) FOR BRAVERY. COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER, JOHN.
HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE WITHERNSEA WW1 MEMORIAL.
Private Harold Bernard Lees
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Date of death: 20/07/1916 (aged 26)
The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award was established on 25th March 1916, with retrospective application to 1914, and was awarded to other ranks for “acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire”. The award was discontinued in 1993 when it was replaced by the Military Cross, which was extended to all ranks, while other Commonwealth nations instituted their own award systems in the post war period.