Royal Engineers, ‘C’ Company, 3rd Reserve Battalion, Service no. 120883
Born: 6th April 1889. Died: 1967
Story
Kennard was born at Kippax Hall, the son of Master Builder William Green and his wife Annie Elizabeth Booker. Like his father, who built many of the houses in Kippax, Kennard was also a builder, and when he enlisted with the Army in Kippax on 1st December 1915, he was quickly noticed to be a skilled carpenter, 5 foot 5½ inches tall, with a scar on his left loin from an old cold access. He was called up on the 6th January 1916, and served in France. On 24th March 1918, Kennard was shot in the left buttock. In his testimony he states that whilst lying injured on the ground, unable to move, he was then gassed. Kennard was listed as missing in action on the 29th March, but a soldier eye-witness came forward on the 6th April to state Kennard was a prisoner of war, and had been taken to Stendal. Kennard returned to Dover on 11th December 1918, and on his discharge form, he wrote: “I have not been treated when I was taken prisoner. I am also suffering from a general weakness and with my chest”. The bullet was extracted via his thigh whilst in Darmstadt Hospital in Germany. After the war, Kennard married Marjorie Anne Smith on 19th August 1922, in Wetherby. He passed away in Staincliffe in 1969.
Above: Kippax Hall, now the site of the Co-operative car park.
Below right: A letter to the Army from Kennard’s father, William, asking for his son’s whereabouts in Germany, so he can write to him. Bottom, William Green aged 85 in 1938.
Kippax Roll of Honour 