Page 46 - They Also Served

never actually took place. Such was the poor state of the professional army in the early stages of the war that an example had to be made to other commanding officers.
Mainwaring spent the rest of the war lobbying for a retrial and reinstatement and died, a broken man, in 1930. Elkington returned to his family, put his affairs in order, travelled to France and joined the French Foreign Legion as a Legionnaire 2nd Class. From May to December 1915, he was constantly in action as the French fought to stabilise the line around Vimy Ridge. On one occasion, a staff car full of British Officers passed on a road and one called out to a figure in a column of Poilus; ‘Elkington! Is that you?’ However he kept his head down and his anonymity intact. He was finally severely wounded in the legs leading his section in an attack. After eight operations, his leg was saved and he was awarded the Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre with palm – roughly the equivalent of the British Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal. After returning to the UK to convalesce, his conduct came to the attention of Lieutenant General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, who had presided over the original Court Martial, and in September 1916 Elkington was reinstated in his old rank. The story of the disgraced colonel who redeemed himself came to the attention of the King who held a personal audience with Elkington and awarded him the DSO for ‘gallant conduct with the French allies.’
In his only interview about the affair, Elkington said: ‘I did nothing of note, I was with the others in the trenches – we all fought as hard as we could’. However, Montgomery, usually quick to criticise others, kept in touch with his old colonel and attended family events with the Elkingtons. John Ford Elkington DSO enjoyed a long retirement and died in 1944.
40