Recent Additions    & Updates Contact author Revealed: an unknown soldier of Ypres Old Allies honoured on Remembrance Day Great War veterans lead Cenotaph march past The youngest casualty Unveiling of plaque to Capt Bruce Bairnsfather Limited edition Bruce Bairnsfather postcard issued First-hand stories by surviving US veterans Story with a happy ending... News Clips 2001-3 Survivor of first world war dies at 108 Evening whispers on the Somme (poem) Scotland's oldest man turns 107 The Soldier's Sweetheart New Writing by new writers Memorial Gates Trust Search the site Private William McBride Buried far from the battlefield Private Sydney Bone Unusual or intriguing war memorials The Accrington Pals Amazon Bookstore Site Information Contents FAQ Contact Author   Resources Index of Poems Newsclips 2001 Further Reading Notes & Queries Can you help Useful links original content © 2002

from Daily Telegraph  Wednesday  28 June  2000

Somme memorial to mark English football's VC
By Paul Stokes

THE only professional footballer soldier to win the VC is to be remembered by a memorial in France. Donny Bell was killed within a week of winning it on the Somme in 1916. Rhoda, his widow of one month, received it.

The spot where he fell, known locally as Bell's Redoubt, will be marked with a 5ft Yorkstone cross set up by the Professional Footballers' Association and the Green Howards.

Donald Simpson Bell was born in Harrogate, North Yorks, in 1890. He played full-back as an amateur with Crystal Palace while training at Westminster College to be a teacher. Later, while teaching at Starbeck College, Harrogate, he played for Newcastle until he turned professional with Bradford Park Avenue in 1912.

When the 1914-18 War broke out, Bell, with Bradford's consent, became the first professional footballer to enlist, in 1914 as a corporal. He was commissioned in 1915 in the Yorkshire Regiment, later the Green Howards.

On July 5 1916 his platoon was pinned down by machinegun fire. Richard Leake, secretary to the Friends of the Green Howards, said: "Bell was supremely fit from his footballing days and, ignoring his safety, crawled up close enough to the machine gun to shoot the operator with a revolver. With two other men he then launched a raid, claiming 50 Germans."

Five days later, 2nd Lt Bell was shot dead leading his platoon as the regiment drove the Germans from the village of Contalmaison. Comrades marked the spot where he fell with a wood cross. He was buried in a nearby cemetery and in 1920 the cross was moved there.

Mr Leake was moved to act when he was shown a photograph of the wooden cross by Tom Umpleby, a nephew of Donny Bell, who farms near Harrogate. He said: "I felt it was an amazing story and that Donald Bell was deserving of a more lasting tribute. With the generous help of the Professional Footballers' Association, we decided to commission a memorial."

Using old maps and aerial photographs, the spot where Bell fell has been found. The stone cross will be placed there on July 9. It will carry the words Bell's Redoubt and the badges of the Green Howards and PFA, with his story in French and English.

More than 20 relatives, including Mr Umpleby, hope to attend. Bernard Senechal, the local mayor, will also be there. He said: "The people of Contalmaison have not forgotten."