From The Teignmouth Post

March 1916

INTERVIEW WITH SHIPS-CORPORAL W. C. HATHERLEY

In the course of an interview with a Press representative, Ships-Corporal W. C. Hatherley (step-son of Mrs. E. Hatherley, licensee of the Prince of Wales Inn, Teignmouth, and brother to Mr. Edgar Hatherley, Landscore Road, and Mrs. J. Symons of Lower Brook Street) gives an account of his experiences in Flanders which led up to his being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He says:

"We were distributed all along the British front in order to see for ourselves the work of the men of the army. We had not long been in the trenches before we saw much more than we expected. The Germans exploded five mines just in front of our lines, and immediately began to try and occupy the craters. The Tommies were up to them, and put up a brave show. During the fighting "Shiner" (his comrade Bright's ship name) and I saw that two Maxims were idle, their teams being put out of action. We crawled to them and though we had not handled one before, we soon got to work and were peppering the enemy. My ammunition was beginning to give out, and turning round I saw someone behind me, so I shouted to him to bring up some more. I found out afterwards he was an officer, but he soon brought up some ammunition boxes, and we were at it again. It was a hot time, and I never thought to come out alive; but I am glad to have had the opportunity of rendering a little service. We stuck to it, and were relieved next morning, and on going back to our billets, we received a tremendous ovation from the troops.

We had  not long been at the billets and settled down when we were awakened and had to motor off to head-quarters, where we were thanked by the Brigadier-General, who was extremely nice to us. On arriving back in London, we were sent for by the Board of Admiralty and congratulated. We also saw the accounts in the papers. But what a lot they are making out of a small incident! We only did our duty, as any other sailor would."