James Clarke
Sergeant, 15th Battalion. The Lancashire Fusiliers
- Register No.
- 217 (Alf's numbering, from The Register of the Victoria Cross, 1997)
- Rank
- Sergeant all Sergeants →
- Unit
- 15th Battalion. The Lancashire Fusiliers all Lancashire Fusiliers VCs →
- Date of action
- 2 November 1918 on this day → all of 1918 →
- Conflict / campaign
- First World War
- London Gazette
- 6th January 1919 on this day → all of 1919 →
- Born
- 6th April 1894 at a Winsford, Cheshire
- Died
- 16th June 1947 at Rochdale, Lancashire
- Memorial / grave
- not known
Digest of citation
On 2nd November, 1918 at Happegarbes, France, when Sergeant Clarke's platoon was held up by heavy machine-gun fire, he rushed forward through a strongly held ridge, capturing in succession forurmachine guns and killing the crews. Later, with the remnants of his platoon he captured three more machine guns and many prisoners and when his platoon was again held up he successfully led a tank against the enemy guns. Throughout the whole of these operations Sergeant Clarke acted with great bravery and total disregard of personal safety
From Alf Askin's research notes
Reproduced as Alf wrote it, c. 2000–2005. Spelling and abbreviations are his own.
CLARKE, James. (reg No. 217).
Sergeant 15th Battalion. The Lancashire Fusiliers.
London Gazetted on 6th January 1919.
Born on 6th April 1894 at a Winsford, Cheshire.
Died on 16th June 1947 at Rochdale, Lancashire.
Memorial not known.
Digest of Citation reads: On 2nd November, 1918 at Happegarbes, France, when Sergeant Clarke's platoon was held up by heavy machine-gun fire, he rushed forward through a strongly held ridge, capturing in succession forurmachine guns and killing the crews. Later, with the remnants of his platoon he captured three more machine guns and many prisoners and when his platoon was again held up he successfully led a tank against the enemy guns. Throughout the whole of these operations Sergeant Clarke acted with great bravery and total disregard of personal safety.
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Alf recorded the memorial as: not known
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