THE FAMILY of a First World War soldier from Oakworth has come forward with further details of his bravery.

Hand grenade hero Arthur Binns’ descendant Tony Calamari approached the Keighley News after we highlighted his war exploits.

We last month told how Arthur picked up a German grenade after it landed in his trench and threw it back at the enemy.

He was awarded a Military Medal for his bravery, but did not receive it until 1919, the year after the war ended, when he returned home from a German prison camp.

Arthur’s story was highlighted in our weekly series, researched by Keighley’s Men of Worth Project, which honours people who served during the First World War.

Mr Calamari, who is two generations after Arthur, was asked to contact the Keighley News by the soldier’s surviving daughter Gwenda Marsden, of Haworth.

Mr Calamari said: “Arthur’s son, Harry, inherited his father’s Military Medal so it is now retained by his own family.

“I have an engraved cigarette case given to Arthur post-World War One by his comrades to acknowledge his bravery.”

Arthur was born in 1894 and grew up in Oldfield, attending Keighley Trade and, School, and by the age of 17 was a trainee teacher at Oldfield School.

The family’s documents show that in 1915, the year he signed up for the army, Arthur was living in Commercial Street, Oakworth, and working as a certificated teacher. He served in Egypt before going to France.

A letter written by Arthur to his family soon after the incident relates how he came to win the Military Medal while fighting at Gavrelle in 1917.

He wrote: “We have been into old Fritz’s trench once again. It was a pretty exciting time, but here we are still merry and bright and looking forward to the time when we can be civilised again.

“When we went over the lid and got into the trenches one those nice people, the Germans, threw a hand grenade into the trench.

“I grabbed it and pitched it out before it exploded. It went up in the air, but it did not hurt anybody.

“Of course, if I had left it alone, it would have laid three or four of us out.”

The family’s records show that Arthur was reported missing the following March, but it later transpired he had become a prisoner of war.

Arthur Binns, standing left, with fellow prison camp survivor Jack Edwards, right, and their Belgian friend

Arthur Binns, pictured in uniform, with members of his family at Chapel Lane in Oakworth