FOOTBALLER Bill Morris may not have set the world alight on the pitch at Edgar Street. Yet an undoubted courage in wartime was to bring him face to face with the most evil man in the world.
Thus was Hitler’s right-hand man arrested: Heinrich Himmler, directly responsible for the Holocaust, was seized by Bill Morris and his comrades and handed over to intelligence staff.
His remarkable story has come to light thanks to Ron Parrott, Hereford United’s historian who is researching club history, and currently compiling profiles of every player to wear the United strip. A lifelong supporter, he feels the lives of these two players are worthy of a wider audience.
As well as Bill Morris, he singles out Harold White, one of the first members of a commando unit destined to become the SAS.
Harold was awarded the Military Medal for his gallantry on the recommendation of David Stirling, at that time a captain and founder of the service.
Ron is two-thirds of the way through a task which has already taken “tens of thousands” of hours and hopes to have it completed for the club’s centenary in 2024.
“It’s great fun,” says Ron, “but tracing pre-war players can be a nightmare as no Christian names were used then.”
Ron takes up the story of Bill Morris, a regular with Hereford United’s reserve side, who played for the first XI in a home win in 1937. “Bill made a total of three first team appearances at Hereford.
“Mundane though his career was at Edgar Street, his military exploits certainly were not!”
Ron continues: “Shortly after the German surrender, Bill’s patrol apprehended three Germans who were at a check-point. Two of them were military men but the third wore a civilian jacket, had shaved off his moustache, removed his glasses and wore a patch over one eye.
“Bill and his comrades immediately became suspicious and arrested the men before passing them over to Intelligence staff at the check-point. During their second interrogation, the oddly-dressed man finally revealed his true identity. He was none other than Heinrich Himmler, head of the German SS and Adolph Hitler's right-hand man and one of the most powerful and feared men in Nazi Germany.
It was to prove a momentous arrest because Himmler was the man most directly responsible for the Holocaust, running the death camps, who directed the killing of six million Jews.
On 23 May 1945, two body searches failed to reveal any secretions but the HQ Medical Officer also inspected his mouth, where he noticed a small object sticking out of his cheek. he slipped his finger into the prisoner's mouth to clear out what he had seen but Himmler immediately clamped down on the doctor's fingers and wrenched his head away, crushing a glass capsule of cyanide between his teeth.
The poison did its deadly work and ten minutes later, the most evil man in the world lay dead. The arch criminal was taken away and buried in an unmarked grave, leaving Bill Morris with a fantastic tale to pass down to his descendants.”
Ron takes up the story: “In 1941, Harold became one of the first members of ‘L’ Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, commanded by Captain Stirling, with the aim of operating behind German lines in North Africa.
“On September 1, 1942, ‘L’ detachment became the first SAS regiment and his initial training was at the Kabrit training camp in the Suez Canal Zone under the eye of Sergeant, later Major, ‘Gentleman Jim’ Almonds.
Here he went through severe parachute training with the emphasis on being able to adapt and survive behind enemy lines.
“Harold became a fine soldier and displayed bravery time and time again before he was awarded the Military Medal for his gallantry on the recommendation of Captain Stirling for a raid on an airfield in Libya in December 1941.
He took part in five raids, personally destroying 20 aircraft while under heavy enemy fire, which necessitated him shooting his way out of a hopeless position surrounded by the enemy.
“Harold was wounded, but recovered to see further action in Sicily, occupied France, including the Normandy Landings and the Rhine. Promoted to sergeant, he spent more time behind enemy lines, working with the French Resistance in ‘Operation Houndsworth’.
In three months, their patrols covered 6,000 square miles, cut 22 railways, killed or wounded 200 Germans and reported 30 targets for Allied bombers.
“On his return home, Harold was based with the Army near Hereford and when Hereford United was desperate for players to field a decent team at short notice for an FA Cup-tie at home in 1945, Harold was drafted in at right-back for just the one match.”
(This article first appeared in the Hereford Times. BN would like to thank both Ron Parrott and the Hereford Times for giving permission to reproduce it.)