AN EMOTIVE 1ST DAY OF THE SOMME CASUALTY DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL AWARDED TO CPL HALLS, RIFLE BRIGADE

He was named after his father, who had been a Postman in Saffron Walden before enlisting in the 2nd Bn Norfolk Regiment. While serving in the Boer War, he died in Pretoria on 3rd December 1900. On 12th December, the Daily News London reported the cause as enteric fever. 

James's mother raised him and his four siblings on an army pension; by 1911, James was working as a Telegraph Boy, and the family resided at 2 & 3 Upper Square, Castle Street. James enlisted in the Regular Army in London before the start of the Great War.

As a member of the 1st Bn Rifle Brigade, Halls was posted to France, arriving on 15th September 1914; he was slightly wounded to the foot in December. 

In May 1915, the battalion was on the Ypres Salient. Halls's company was in trenches next to an area called' Shell - Trap, which was later renamed 'Mousetrap'. On 13th May, the Germans started an intense bombardment in the hopes of taking complete control of the Frezenberg Ridge. 

Trenches were destroyed, and James was cut off with S/5032 Corporal Herbert Edward Sunnuck. The regimental history for the 13th May 1915 states;

'Halls of B Company (and another corporal) were cut off from the company for nine hours by the destruction of our trenches. They had held out in their post and, by their accurate shooting, had defeated all attempts by the enemy to dig in on the right front'.

Both men were awarded the DCM, and their citations were published in the London Gazette on 3rd August 1915. Halls is as follows; 

'For conspicuous gallantry on 13th May, 1915, east of Ypres. When the end of his trench had been blown in, Private Halls remained on the spot with a Non-commissioned Officer under heavy fire for nine hours firing on the enemy. 

Corporal Sunnuck's citation was similar, as seen below; 

'For conspicuous gallantry on 13th May, 1915, East of Ypres. When the end of his trench had been blown in, Corporal Sunnuck, with another man, remained on the spot under heavy fire for nine hours, firing on the enemy and taking observations.

James wrote a letter home about the action. A copy of the letter was published in the Saffron Walden Historical Journal in a journal article by Robert Pike.

' We were in position with a farm on the right known as 'Shell-trap'. We were shelled heavily from dawn till 3 pm, receiving heavy losses, resulting in me and Corporal' Sonie' (Sunnuck), a Canadian, not killed or wounded. When the shelling stopped, the Germans started coming up. 'Sonie' and I crept up the trench and fired on them. Three times this happened. During the day, we lost 170 men'.

At the time of the action, James was still only 19 years old. After being awarded the DCM, he wrote the following letter home, which was also published in the Saffron Walden Historical Journal, in a journal article by Robert Pike.

'We are now back from the trenches for ten days rest, the first time we have been out of the sound of the guns during nine months I have been out here. This is Sunday, and quite a treat to hear the old French bells ringing in the village church, which is about half a mile away. Since I last wrote we have taken part in a charge and captured a length of German trenches and eighty prisoners. Last Sunday we had orders to attack the German trench in front of us, but I hadn’t the heart to write and let you know, and I am glad I didn’t now, as, thank God, I came out of it quite safe, all but a cut on the face with a small piece of shrapnel, but I scarcely felt that in the excitement. Our artillery started the bombardment at 5 o’clock on Tuesday morning and it only lasted an hour, but it was terrible, and at one minute past six we gave a yell, jumped out of our trenches and rushed towards the Germans. By five minutes past six there wasn’t a German in their first line trench, except prisoners who were begging for mercy, no doubt thinking we would shoot them straight away, as perhaps they deserved, but that is not our way. We made them work to build up the trench instead, which they were only too eager to do. We lost heavily, especially by bombs and grenades, but our shells must have done terrible work, for the Germans were lying in heaps blown to pieces, but I will not try to explain how horrible it was. I’d like to be able to forget. They left everything behind them, scores of rifles, helmets and equipment etc., and you ought to have seen our boys smoking their cigars, of which we found plenty. They shelled us pretty heavily during the day and tried hard to rush us out of it again, but we stuck it until we were relieved at night very tired and parched, but glad we had done what was wanted of us. They put some gas shells over during the night, the only way of revenge they can get, but it was no go. It was a sad roll call the morning after we were relieved, but it would have been a lot worse hadn’t it been for our artillery keeping them back and stopping them from massing. Don’t worry about sending me parcels as long as I can get a smoke nothing else matters. P.S. I know you will congratulate me, Mother, on having won the D.C.M for something I did in May. I shall probably get a furlough, so look out and cheer up' 

James was promoted to Corporal after winning his DCM and was subsequently wounded, it was a 'blighty wound, and he spent a period of recovery in Folkestone. 

Tragically on his return, he was killed in action on 1st July 1916, the First day of the Battle of the Somme. His battalion, the 1st, was part of the 11th Brigade, 4th Division. Their objective was to attack The Redan Ridge; however, the Bn's advance was checked by fire from The Quadrilateral and from Ridge Redoubt. They managed to reach and enter the German Trenches, and James was sadly killed in the brutal close-quarters fighting. 

James was laid to rest in Sucrerie Military Cemetery, Colincamps. He was only 20 years old.