Ernest Best MM - a Pye Bridge Soldier
by SLHS on
Thursday 13 October 2016
Sergeant Ernest Best joined the army in September 1914. He was awarded the Military Medal for “Gallant Conduct at the Front”, which was reported in local newspapers. The Belper News, published on 15 December 1916 carried a long article on Ernest, which included a letter he wrote to his brother about his exploits. The article has been transcribed and is printed below.
There are several gaps in the letter that were not printed in the newspaper, expressed as “…” to indicate something that is not directly expressed or readable in the original document.
“Sergt. E. BEST, PYE BRIDGE
The residents of Riddings and Pye Bridge district, and particularly the members of the scholastic profession, will have considerable pride in the announcement we are able to make this week that Sergeant Ernest Best, of Pye Bridge, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallant conduct at the Front. The gallant NCO is a son of Mr. W. F. Best , the station master at Pye Bridge, and he himself holds the position of headmaster of the Ridding’s Boys School, the scholars of which have doubles given resounding cheers for their chief, and we hope by now a message of congratulation and a safe return from them is well on the way to Sergeant Best. This would stimulate the boys and gladden their old teacher.
Sergt. Best has not been able to assume the duties of his scholastic appointment owing to the fact he was in the army when elected to the post as long ago as June 1915, since when the position is being temporarily filled until his return to civilian life. He was appointed to succeed his old headmaster, Mr. W. B. Taylor, who recently retired after “holding on” for something like a year longer that he intended with a view to the finish of the war., and Sergt. Best’s return, with a record of over 30 years’ service at this school. Sergt. Best served his apprenticeship at this school as a pupil teacher, of which he is now head. He was trained at York College and was an assistant master on the outbreak of war. He joined the East Yorks. Regiment. He is a capital sportsman with many honours to his credit, but the most recent is the most cherished. A good all-round cricketer, he has played for Riddings for some seasons in the Derbyshire Alliance Competition.
Sergt. Best enlisted in September 1914, and from December 1915 to March 1916, he was in Egypt and saw service on the Suez Canal. From March last he has been in France. Some time ago he married an Alfreton lady (Miss Clarice Parkin), the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. Parkin, of Mansfield Road, who is herself in the scholastic profession and occupies a position of the staff of the Alfreton National (Institute Lane) Schools. The exploit in which he was concerned and which gained him the Military Medal took place on the 13th of November, and his wife heard the good news last week-end and received a bit of the coveted ribbon. The Divisional General pinned the ribbons on the men rewarded on November 27th.
In a letter to Mrs Best, her husband says – “Yesterday morning the Divisional General came down to put them on (pin the ribbons). I was sent out of the line on Sunday night, about 9, simply coated in mud, and had to go about 8 miles for the night. I got a new a new suit and a shave and a wash – the first for a week – and felt ready for the fray. There were eight of us from the Brigade. There will be more and higher awards later on. The General said how pleased he was with the work of the Brigade and then wished us each a long life to wear the ribbon as he pinned it on and shook hands.
THRILLING EXPERIENCES
Sergt. Best, in a letter to his brother, vividly recounts his thrilling experiences on that eventful day when a portion of their Brigade fought splendidly, capturing two lines of trenches and 150 prisoners. Sergt. Best was detailed off in charge of twenty men to carry two bags of bombs to the captured German lines, which were being heavily shelled by the Huns, while machine guns and snipers were pretty busy on one exposed side. The trenches were up to the knees in sticky mud. Describing the journey, he says – “I jumped from shell-hole to shell-hole, the rest following, sometimes up to the knees in water and sometimes full length in mud, and the machine guns kept rat-tat-tating. No-man’s land was all shell-holes – almost joined up right across – and a complete desolation. I can’t describe what it was like, dashing over in rushes, but you can imagine how glad I felt after the last mad rush which landed us (all of us but one) in the Hun trench. What a state it was in! All blown to bits! Just a deep muddy ragged row of shell-holes. The Huns had been outed from there and those who were left gave themselves up readily. After a time we started back, and two or three Boches (German soldiers) followed. They didn’t want “taking” and were only too anxious to come. I couldn’t tell you one-hundredth part of the excitement – the mad rushes and falls, the hair-breadth escapes and the absolute exhaustion of the turn. We hadn’t gone far (taking these Huns and one or two of our wounded) when the machine guns ripped across us and then several snipers got into action. And the shells! We jumped from hole to hole, rarely more than six steps at a time, and every time we showed ourselves, ping! ping! ping! came into the clay close by. We lost one killed and three wounded before we got to our own lines. How we managed to get back I can’t say, for I saw many hit – they who were prisoners. The shelling was awful and we lost direction. Finally we risked it and dashed into a battered old trench, which was being bumped tremendously. Imagine my feelings when I ran into a Boche in this trench. Fortunately it turned out to be our trench and after a rotten struggle we finally got back, after being away twelve hours, and reported the bombs safely across. It had taken us five hours to go from our line to theirs and back – and such hours! … They had given us up almost for … had attempted to take a party across and found it quite impossible while others had been making fruitless inquiries … On the return journey a shell burst just three yards in front of me and buried me up to the hips, but luckily didn’t hit me. At another place I got stuck so that I could not move. I was over both knees and couldn’t shift. One of the fellows came , in spite of the shrapnel, and together we pulled my feet out one at a time. While we were coming across we had a few wounded. You didn’t think there were any good Huns, did you! Well, one, a red cross man who we were bringing back risked his life half-a-dozen times to dress our fellows. He was champion and as pleased as Punch when I patted him on the back. We brought another one right back. He was plucky. He had been shot through the chest but he collapsed in our line and we left him. By the way, he had an Iron Cross ribbon.”
Sergt. Best said souvenirs lay all about them in the captured German trenches, and one fellow offered hi his watch, but their own safety, under such conditions, was their first consideration. “There were all sorts of things and the Huns were eager to give you them. Poor beggars! They were ever so glad to be taken, for they must have had a horrible bumping”.
Sergt. Best mentions that certain friends were quite well, but one of them had had a rough time, being knocked out by a shell, which, however, didn’t injure him, and “he was brought in by a German prisoner coming across. There’s another good Hun!”