7 The Green Howards and Sgt Major Stan Hollis

The only man to win the Victoria Cross on D-Day, Green Howards Sgt Major Stan Hollis, will be remembered on the 65th anniversary, this Saturday, both at the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond and at ceremonies in France. Hollis’s Victoria Cross is on display in the Museum’s Medal Room, alongside other VCs won by members of the Regiment. Staff at the Museum will draw the attention of visitors to it on Saturday, and ensure they know the story of his heroism on D-Day. At the same time, there will be ceremonies at the Green Howards memorial in the village of Crépon in Normandy, near to where members of the Regiment went ashore on D-Day. Veterans and soldiers who are currently in the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) will assemble alongside villagers to mark the anniversary.

On 6 June 1944 Company Sergeant Major Hollis was sent to ensure that two pillboxes, by-passed in the assault on the beach, were clear of enemy soldiers. When Hollis and his men were 20 yards from the pillbox, a machine gun opened fire on them. Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the box, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it killing, two Germans and capturing the remainder. Later the same day Hollis attacked a field gun in Crépon and was grazed on the right cheek by a sniper’s bullet before he destroyed the gun position. Then, under fire, he diverted the enemy while two of his men who were trapped by the Germans effected their escape. For his acts of heroism, Hollis received the VC from King George VI on 10 October 1944. After the war, he worked in a steelworks, in a motor repair business in Darlington and a ship's engineer before becoming a publican in North Ormesby and in Liverton Mines near Loftus. Hollis died in 1972, aged 59.