During the Second World War William Leslie Green trained a
Home Guard company in Sheffield.
In his spare time Capt Green was a fund-raiser for the Royal
British Legion and a patron of the Old Contemptibles
Association.
In 1944 he was shot again and seriously injured in an accident
on the rifle range at Totley outside Sheffield. A round was
accidentally discharged and ricocheted off a wall injuring a group
of officers including Leslie who was shot in the stomach and lost
an eye.
In 1947 the Home Guard was stood down. William Leslie Green
was presented with a Silver Tureen and a testimonial letter
which speaks for itself.
William Leslie Green died on September 5, 1951, in Sheffield, at the age of 55 of heart failure
exacerbated by his injuries.
As the cause of death included “gun shot wounds”, an inquest was held resulting in a verdict of
"Death by Misadventure". The family Dr Joseph Warner (himself an ex-Army MO) wrote …
"… the wounds received in the First World War caused a condition in Captain Green’s legs for
which he had been treated in hospital each year from 1932 to 1945. It had been coupled with
a heart disease which had been the final cause of death."
His son John, born 1935, said' "My mother told me that he had the most terrible nightmares
but as children we never knew about it - to us, he was just Dad. He was also a very devoted
Christian and I know his faith helped him overcome these things. When I think about it I just
can't imagine how he coped. It was announced at his funeral that he'd been considered for a
Victoria Cross but we never found out any more as many records were lost during the Blitz. It
just shows the calibre of the chap he was, although he was the most gentle man you could
ever hope to meet. We weren't a well off family by any means but he always insisted our
clothes were handed to people in need."
65, Battalion, West Riding,
HOME GUARD STAND DOWN
30th December 1947
To Captain W Green,
Dear Sir,
We could not honestly say that we were not pleased to see the Stand Down of
the Home Guard.
Now we go our different ways, some of us may never meet you again, that is
our loss.
We joined this squad as men of peace forced to War by conscience and
prevailing circumstances, and we looked forward with some mis-giving to the
first weeks of breaking in, but you gave us confidence.
We now recognise and admire the kindness and patience with which you
taught us the strange new things we had to learn, now we know, we think,
enough to stand on our own feet as Soldiers.
We owe this to you, what can we say, we thank you and are grateful to you,
and we wish to place it on record that we consider you to be a fine soldier
and a good man, a patient teacher and a kind friend, our idea of a fine
gentleman.
There is not a man who signs his name to this letter who does not feel proud
to have served under you "On Parade".
1st Company