Harry so humbled by Arras gong-winner
HARRY STYLES Actor
ONE Direction star Harry Styles is making his film debut in Dunkirk, playing a private waiting in one of the queues on the beach to get a spot on one of the rescue ships.
Harry, 23, has said he felt “super-emotional” and “scared” while watching the film.
And on the one hand that is because he got to meet veterans and talk to them about what they had been through.
But he also said he saw in them a bravery echoed by one of his own ancestors.
His great-grandfather Elijah Daniels fought in the First World War, serving as a private in the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, until he was wounded at the notorious Battle of Arras in 1917.
The British offensive raged between April 9 and May 16 as our troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras. There were big gains on the first day but they were followed by a bloody stalemate that resulted in nearly 160,000 British and about 125,000 German casualties.
The 4th Regiment was devastated after losing 200 men.
Elijah lived and was later transferred to another unit after months recovering from serious
injuries. He was awarded a campaign medal for his bravery – made all the more poignant as he was a volunteer rather than a conscript. As a 37-year-old married man, he would have been exempt. After the war, Elijah lived with wife Maggie Daniels, nee Rowell, in Peterborough, and worked as a labourer. Elijah’s daughter Doris married John German, whose daughter Beryl Styles is Harry’s grandma. But Elijah was not quite the heartthrob his great-grandson is. Records reveal that he was 5ft 7in with a 39in chest – and had two boils on his head.