GREEN William James

William Green was born on 10th June 1922. He entered Form IId at Kings Norton Boys School on 12th September 1933 and left the school from Form 4aii on 23rd July 1936. His home address on the school records was given as 20 Allenscroft Road, King’s Heath.

On 22nd May 1941 HMS Hood left Scapa Flow along with her sister battlecruiser Prince of Wales and a number of destroyers. Their mission was to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen before they could enter the Atlantic waters and attack Allied shipping. The two ships were sighted in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. At 05.52 on the morning of 24th May 1941 the British ships opened fire on the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. The German ships returned fire and within less than 10 minutes the battle was over. HMS Hood was hit by a number of shells, one of which triggered a massive explosion and led to the ship sinking in less than 4 minutes. Of her crew of 1,418, only 3 survived.