iS 
Land & ^V"ater 
May 9, 191 8 
Corporal Grim, V.C. : By F. Willey Turner 
PROBABLY I knew as much about Jim Green as 
any man in our countryside, which is not saj'ing 
much, for in common parlance Jim was known 
as "a hard nut to crack." Once I spoke to the 
foreman of the quarry where Jim was employed, 
about him. "What kind of a man is Jim Green ?" I asked. 
The foreman scratched his head for some time before he 
answered. " He's a curious critter, is Jim," he said, at last ; 
"let Iiim go his own gait, and he'll do a good day's work ; 
but interfere wi' him, and he's as obstinate as a mule." 
This, I think, is a fair summar\' of the man's character ; 
he was the sort of man who might be led, but could not be 
driven. 
In appearance, he was not ]prepossessing ; he stood five 
feet ten without his shoes, was built in proportion, and 
altogether obsessed one with a sense of naked brutal strength. 
His face was not pleasant to look at ; his jaw was too massive, 
his cheek-bones too prominent, while his eyes sat back too 
deeply in their sockets. When things went wrong with 
him. which they frequently did, he had a way of crumpling 
up his forehead, and a birth-mark, at other times unnotice- 
able, stood tout vivid and distinct. This mark came to be 
recognised as a kind of danger-signal, and when it was flown 
his mates gave him a wide berth. At such moments it was 
touch-and-go witli Jim, and no man likes to be in close 
proximity to a human powder-magazine. 
To this may be added that Jim was naturally taciturn 
and unsociable, and on this account far from popular. He 
was rarely seen, for instance, at the "Fiddle and Trumpet," 
the quarryman's favourite rendezvous at the edge of the 
moors, preferring, on the few occasions when he did imbibe, 
an obscure tavern in a back street, where he would brood 
and drink in soUtarj' state. 
At fixed periods, however, this rule was relaxed. The 
landlord of the "Fiddle and Trumpet" held bi-weekly 
pigeon "shoots" in the meadow behind his inn, and on these 
occasions Jim was usually conspicuous by his presence. He 
was a champion shot, could do "ovvt, " so it was said, with a 
gun,, and no more sure investment was known among the 
pigeon-shooting fraternity than "puttin" yer money on Jim." 
In this connection, Jim was regarded as a "dead cert." 
Once— and once only— ^did he fail to satisfy his backers; 
and, as the story is typical of the man, it may be related 
here. At this particular match he turned up late, with a 
rag wound about his wrist, muttering something by way of 
apology about a strained hand. Shouldering his gun awk- 
wardly, he fired wide and lost his score. As, however, on 
the following Monday he was seen at work without the 
bandage on his wrist, inquiries were set afoot. The truth 
came out bit by bit, but it was finally disclosed that on 
that particular Saturday his chief backer was his own fore- 
man, and that during the previous week he (the foreman) 
and Jim had had a serious quarrel. So it was Jim took his 
revenge. This incident, I repeat, is typical. 
Every year when the country "Feast" was on, Jim dis- 
appeared for a week and went to Scarborough. As he usually 
carritd a rod in his hand and a creel on his back, it may be 
presumed he went a-fishing. For my own part, I believe 
that the natural beauty of the place also attracted him, for 
once, in a burst of unwonted loquacity, he asked me if I 
thought Heaven was much like Scarborough, for " when the 
sun was glowing red in the haze and the rocks ghnted like 
gold, he was minded o' t' better land." I remember being 
considerably startled by the query, for it seemed to suggest 
unplumbed depths in the man's nature of which I never 
dreamed. As good Americans when they die are said to 
go to Paris, so may Jim have had visions of Scarborough as 
his ultimate and desired haven. 
Be this as it may, it was shortlj' after the German raid on 
Scarborough that Jim did the unexpected and enlisted. For 
my {lart, I am incUned to think that he regarded the raid 
on his favourite resort as a personal affront. At any rate, 
when he presented himself at the depot, and was asked if 
he had any preference.jn the way of regiments, he bluntly 
answered that all regiments were alike to him ; all he wanted 
was "to have a smack at them dirty Germans as fired on 
folk at Scarborough as couldn't fire back." Being pressed 
as to his quahfications, he said that he could "hack stones 
apiece." The recruiting sergeant, who did not like the looks of 
the man, was unimpressed; but when he added that he could 
shoot a bit, the sergeant gripped him by the hand, and he was 
straightway enrolled as a -member of His Majesty's Forces. 
I have it on the excellentj authority of my nephew. 
a .second-lieutenant (to whom I had written commendmg 
Jim), that he (Jim) had not been many weeks in trainmg 
before he was acclaimed the crack shot of his company. 
As the lieutenant observed in passing, a man who can hit 
a flving bottle at a hundred yards has a future before him 
in the British Army. This did not altogether surprise me ; 
but, on the other hand, I was surprised to hear that khaki 
had wrought a miracle in him, and that the uncouth and 
surly quarryman had become steadily amenable to mihtary 
discipline, and was making a fine soldier. 
.^gain, whether it was the result of this or whether it was 
solely due to the needs of the rapidly growing Army, I cannot 
say, but the next I heard of Jim was that he had been pro- 
moted to the rank of corporal. His procedure when he was 
called to face his small squad for the first time was entirely 
unconventional. "I'm to be foreman o' this gang, am I, 
sir?" he demanded of the Heutenant who inducted him. 
The officer laughingly assented : "That's so, corporal." 
The new corporal stepped back a pace or two and eyed 
his men with a frown which made the livid bar on his fore- 
head gloom ominously ; then he stepped forward again and 
shook a huge fist in their faces. "You see this, m'lads ? 
Well, you'll feel it if yer don't come up to t' scratch when 
I tells" you!" 
This anecdote, retailed in the mess-rooms, marked Jim 
out for popular approval ; it was also responsible for a 
change of name, for from that time Corporal Green became 
Corporal Grim. 
Vyiien his regiment left for somewhere in France there 
were only two in all Little Turfbury who mourned Jim's 
departure. One was his mother, a garrulous old lady, who 
occupied a cottage in Lane's End, and between whom and 
her son there was a warm— if on the one side a somewhat 
tacit — affection, and who, to quote Jim, "would ha' been 
the best mother in the world if only she had had the luck 
to be born dumb." The other was his dog Tiser, a mongrel 
of no scheduled breed, who knew his master's habits to a 
T, only barked to order, and came to heel at a glance. 
Both these beheved in him, and were perhaps the only two 
in the whole countryside who did. To a pessimistic neigh- 
bour who gave it as her opinion that Mrs. Green would do 
well to order funeral-cards while they were cheap as she 
would never see her son again, the old lady replied with 
supreme confidence : " Jim'll turn up again, never fear ! 
I ud Ifke to see t' German as ud best our Jim, that I ud 1 
He'll gi' 'em pepper, see if he don't!" Saying which, the 
old dame tossed her head proudly and went indoors. 
Some weeks later her confidence was confirmed by a letter 
from -the front which she showed to me with much glee. It 
was very short and characteristic. "Deer mother," it ran, 
" I opes ye and tiser is harty. I opes ye gets yer .money ole 
rite. I aint in" much danger ere as I'm a snapper (sniper) 
most days. Now and agen the Germans fetch a bang at 
me, that is when I gives em a chance. Kepe yer spirits up. 
Yeres trewly, Jim Green." 
This letter, duly passed from house to house, was regarded 
as a "clincher" by the inhabitants of Lane's End. Several 
\'0ung men made tracks for the recruiting office, while Mrs. 
Green went about with all the consciousness of a British 
matron whose only son was fighting his country's foes, and 
doing it well. 
But, alas ! the best of human hopes are as fragile as glass, 
and as easily broken ; and when towards the end of October 
the postman knocked at the door for a second time, Mrs. 
Green undoubtedly received a shock. "Deer mother," wrote 
the corporal, "I have got a nasty smack consequens of a 
plank toppling on me and my left arm is broke. But ye 
mustn't take on as it's not lialf as bad as I got in the quarry 
fewer years back. I am in a London ospitle at present but 
•• am to be let out next Wednesdy week wen I opes to land 
ome by the train as gets in at three." 
Mrs. Green had to read this missive several times over 
before she made out its purport. When at length she did, 
she rubbed her spectacles clean, and placed them with the 
letter in the Bible ; she felt that such a letter could not 
be handed round. It was only because I acted as her 
amanuensis that I was permitted to see it. She admitted 
that she "was main glad that it was only a accident that 
had got Jim, for if it had been them Germans she could 
never ha' forgiven them " ; but it was evident, notwithstand- 
ing, that her faith in Jim had suffered a serious check. 
The letter aforementioned was received on a Friday, but 
on the following Monday stirring news reached us at Little 
