OAKWORTH soldier Charles Stobbs was described as a plucky machine gunner by the Keighley News after he was wounded by an enemy shell.

Charles was feeding ammunition to his gun during a German counter-attack when the shell exploded within yards of him.

He sustained wounds in both legs, his arms and face during the incident on June 7, 1917 and was taken to a Canadian hospital in France for treatment.

Injuries to Charles’s nose caused him long-term breathing difficulties, and he was posted back to Grantham Receiving Depot later that year and allowed time off to marry Rose Blenkiron,

With his disability assessed as less than 20 per cent, Charles was “struck of strength” from the Machine Gun Corps in December 1918 and discharged from the Army a month later.

Just over a month after Charles was wounded, there was more bad news for his parents Ernest and Sarah as they waited back home in Roseberry Street, Oakworth.

One of Charles’ brothers, Bombardier Prince E Stubbs, was wounded in the neck and shoulder by shrapnel, and another, Henry, a bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery, was gassed and left seriously ill.