"I Have Seen Him Stand Cool And Motionless In The Light Of Very Flares. For His Conduct On These Occasions, I Twice Recommended Him And He Was Awarded Both The Military Medal & Bar"

For his actions at Hinges, Private Meeks of 'X' Company was awarded a Bar to his Military Medal. Meeks later went on to become an in-pensioner at Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Following his death in 1974, Canon William Lummis, who has then been a Lieutenant at Hinges remembered him: "He was one of the bravest and coolest men in action that I have ever known. Ifirst met his acquaintance when I took over command of 'X' Company, 2nd Battalion, before going into action in front of Hinges. He was Company runner. Standing a few yards in front of me, I noticed him quietly pull out a New Testament from his pocket and, after reading to for a while, place it back. It was this action that induced me to form a Bible Class in the Battalion, which he and many other attended. He was particularly good at guiding companies into positions and in bearing messages to and from Bn. HQ. I have seen him stand cool and motionless in the light of Very flares. For his conduct on these occasions I twice recommended him and he was awarded both the Military Medal and Bar."
​The photograph above, published courtesy of the Suffolk Record Office, shows William 'Bill' Meeks MM and Bar on the right. His chum sitting left, can be seen with the coloured right-hand epaulette of 2nd Suffolk, which varied in Colour depending on which Company he was serving with. On his left forearm is a stripe of coloured material denoting his trade (Mortar, Signals, Lewis gunnner etc.). Meeks served with the Signal Section. In close up, the ribbon for the Military Medal bears the rosette of the Bar awarded at Hinges.

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