RIMELL Arthur Richard

Appears on the Army casualties list for Worcestershire.

In May 1940 the calm was suddenly shattered by the news of the German onslaught on the Low Countries. Not long afterwards the first casualties affecting the parish became known. In a desperate effort to stem the enemy advance British troops had taken up defensive positions along the line of the River Escaut near the frontier between France and Belgium. Among them was the 1st Guards Brigade which included the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards in which Lance Sergeant Arthur Rimell was serving. On 21st May the battalion came under a violent artillery, mortar and machine gun fire, which was followed by a determined assault by the enemy. It was during this attack the L/Sgt Rimell was struck down. A regular soldier, he was the son of William and Elizabeth Rimell of Kinnersley, and at only eighteen years of age was one of the youngest sergeants in the army.

Source for additional information: Severn Stoke. The Parish in Wartime 1939 – 1945 by Bob Cross, 1999.

A letter from W.J.S. Davies Severn Stoke Rectory, dated 16th May 1950 can be found within war records held at Worcestershire Archives requesting that Lance Sergeant Arthur Richard Rimell, Grenadier Guards, be added to the county roll of honour.