Yarrow, George William

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE GEORGE WILLIAM YARROW 30510. Born in March 1899, George was the fourth of five children to William and Emma Yarrow of 28 Pulman Street, Hull. A Cleaner when he came of age, William enlisted in Beverley on 21st May 1917 and from there I will hand you over to the written testimony of a very brave man. Brace yourselves.
5 Hilda’s Grove, Sculcoates Lane,Beverley Road, Hull, May 17th 1919. Dear Sirs,
Your letter to hand of the 14th inst, regarding 30510 Pte. GW Yarrow 11th E. Yorks Regt. I was training with him at Rugely Camp and Brocton Camp, Staffordshire in 1917. He was transferred from the 9th E. Yorks Regt to the 3rd Duke of Wellingtons, and was sent to North Shields in 1918 with me and several others. He left North Shields for France in March 1918, without a leave. When he arrived at Etaples in France, he was transferred to the 11th E. Yorks Regt, and sent to a village near Arras in April 1918. He was near Arras exactly a week, then moved to the Armentieres Front. On the early morning of the 12th April 1918, we had orders to dig in, and we were all made a reserve. At about 8.30am we had orders to retreat from the trenches we had dug a few hours previously. He was out of the trench before me because I had a Lewis Gun to look after. My turn came to get out and I began to retreat. I had got about 400yds away from the trench when I saw Pte GW Yarrow on the ground in a very small ditch, he was crying out in agony for help. He shouted for me as I was coming up to him, and he wanted me to help him. I stooped a few minutes with him and found out that he had been wounded with a bullet through the stomach and was in the most agonising pain. I did what I could for him, and after a few brief moments, he died in my arms in the little ditch. I then found myself in very close quarters with the Germans, which 5 Germans I shot, then made my escape to reach our men which I could see about 300yds away. I ran and caught up to them, and only was with them about 15 minutes when all of a sudden I fell down myself, and found I had been wounded through the right ankle with a bullet. I was unconscious for about 13 hours on the battlefield, and when I woke up, I found I had lost a lot of my blood, and my foot was bleeding tremendously. I was picked up by the German Red Cross and was taken to a farm for three days, then was taken for dressing at Loos, then taken to Lille, then taken to Tourgoing in Belgium, remaining there for a week, with an operation on my foot. My last move was to Stendal near Berlin, and had several operations which proved very successful indeed but of course have left me lame for life. Directly I landed in London in January 1919, I gave all particulars to the British Red Cross Society with regard to 30510 Pte GW Yarrow, 11th E.Yorks Regt.
I am now discharged from the Army and live at the above address of this letter. I have written to you all the