A MEDAL awarded to a soldier of the Barnsley Pals for his service a century ago has sparked a debate among experts - should all 2,000 of the Barnsley Pals have received it?
Private Vernon Atkinson was injured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1 1916, but he recovered and later returned to battle.
But like the rest of the Pals, the war didn’t start on July 1 for Private Atkinson.
He set sail for Egypt in December 1915 where the Suez canal was under threat.
As a result he was awarded the 1915 Star. But it seems the rest of the Barnsley Pals were not.
Jon Cooksey, an author and First World War expert, can’t understand why and thinks perhaps now, 100 years on, they finally should be.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
