Sergeant Wilf Mannion Green Howards

The famous footballer Wilf Mannion served in the Green Howards in WW2. After joining up he was in France with the 7th Battalion in 1940 and then apparently in Sicily with the 1st Battalion. One account has him holding his c.o, the famous cricketer Hedley Verity, in the moments after Verity was fatally wounded in Sicily in 1943.

After this it appears he was downgraded following a variety of illnesses including jaundice and malaria and eventually became a PTI.

Can anyone confirm these details and tell me his promotion dates? I assume he was still at most a Corporal in 1943, and if the Hedley Verity story is correct then was in 1st Battalion HQ Company.

Another interesting note is that his enlistment date is given as January 1940 and within a few weeks he was sent to France.The 7th Battalion went to France in April 1940!

regards

Keith