An Australian in 'the Horse'
Second Lieutenant Raymond Green
Raymond Green was born in Sydney, Australia, on 23 December 1896. A keen sailor, he joined the crew of the cargo vessel Langdale at the age of 16, sailing from Newcastle, New South Wales, on 11 July 1913 (see photograph below, Green in the back row, second from right).
Arriving in Belfast as the War broke out, Green enlisted as a Private in the North Irish Horse on 9 September 1914 (Service No.1178). Green had to put his age up to enlist. (Years later, when he joined the Australian Army for service in WW2, he put his age down.)
Sent to France as a reinforcement on 20 January 1915, Green joined A Squadron of the North Irish Horse. He received a temporary commission as 2nd Lieutenant from 26 March 1918 and was posted to the 7th Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. In 1919 he was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in an action at Wervicq on 14 October 1918 (see citation below from the Supplement to the London Gazette of 30 July 1919, p.9736).
On 28 October 1918 he wrote the following letter:
Dear Mother
I am sending along an Iron Cross which I had given to me in a little scrapping a few weeks ago, I only hope it reaches you OK as I really value it - it is what we all class as the best souvenier of all. I hope you are all well and that I am soon back home again - we have been having fairly hard times lately but the news is great. I have not been able to write to you very often lately as we have been so busy (?) Coy (?) this month my Co[mpan]y Com[mander] has just returned so I haven't so much to do now. I will write again tomorrow as I expect a mail from you tonight.
Your loving son, Raymond xxxxxxx
Green returned to Australia in 1920.
The Iron Cross that he sent home, and his medals, are shown below.
The photographs below show Raymond Green as an officer in the Royal Irish Regiment.
After the war, Green won the trophy below in an equestrian competition at Paris Plage, Le Touquet, winning six of the eight events on his horse 'Billy'. A picture of Green riding Billy on Paris Plage is shown below.
Images kindly made available by Raymond Green's daughter, Joan Collings of Sydney, Australia.