THE nephew of a First World War hero has called for his uncle to be properly recognised following the incorrect recording of his army rank.

Last Wednesday marked the 100th anniversary of the death of James Henry William Hall who was killed in action while still a teenager.

At the time of his death, James, who was born in Surrey, was the youngest sergeant major in the British army.

His body was never found but he is recorded on the Arras memorial in France. Sadly though, his rank is inaccurately recorded and he is listed as a sergeant.

And now his nephew, Andy Hall, 64, from North Swindon, is seeking to correct the mistake and give James the recognition he deserves.

Andy said: “Many of the records from the First World War were destroyed during the blitz of WW2 and I have been trying for many years to get the record corrected and his memorial to rightly reflect his attainment.

“He was awarded both the military medal and bar and I have numerous press cuttings reporting him as sergeant major and even an article from the Boy Scouts Book of Heroes published in 1921.

“From the accounts I have he was an incredibly brave man and one of his awards was for defending five machine gun posts with just himself and a corporal, after 34 other men had been killed or severely injured.

“They held those posts for over an hour before reinforcements arrived to relieve them. Their actions helped prevent severe losses to an entire brigade, which during WW1 was up to 6000 men.”

He is also recorded as carrying his badly injured officer for more than two kilometres with shells falling all around.

James’s death certificate records his age as 20 at the point of death, but Andy can confirm that the young soldier, who was a member of the Seaforth Highlanders, was in fact 19-years-old.

Andy has appealed to the War Graves Commission to address the inaccuracy, and he has even written to the Queen, but he has so far hit what he termed “numerous bureaucratic brick walls”.

He added: “To die serving your country is one thing but for your country to then not recognise your accomplishments is something else entirely.

“I want to get this corrected while I still have some energy left. He gave his all for his country and that should be recognised.”