Also Served: William Moran - William MORAN
1 Gaskells Passage, Prescot Sergeant 3378, 1/5th Bn., South Lancashire Regiment 
William Moran was born on 10th December 1894 in Prescot, the youngest son of Thomas and Ann Moran (nee Higgins), and younger brother of James Moran.
At the time of the 1901 and 1911 census, the family lived at Gaskells Passage. In 1911, William was listed as being 16 years old and working as a 'Cotton Covering Telephone Wire Machinist' at the Wire Works.
WIlliam's number of 3378 was issued in November 1914. It is likely that he had porevious service with the 1/5th Battalion, which was the local Territorial Force battalion. 'D' Company were based at the Barrack Hall in Aspinall Street.
William went to France as part of a reinforcement draft on 6th May 1915 when the battalion were involved in heavy fighting around Wieltje, close to Ypres.
William was listed in the 'Prescot Weekly Times' of 27th May 1915 in the list of 'Catholic men of Prescot serving with HM Forces'.
In February of 1917, he was renumbered to 241185 as part of the Territorial Force renumbering.
The London Gazette of 19th October 1917 listed Sgt Moran amongst the men awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was then pictured in the Prescot Reporter with a caption of 'South Lancs (Prescot) awarded the DCM'. Finally, on 25th January 1918, the London Gazette published the following citation:-
'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the face of heavy machine gun fire and very active sniping. At a very critical moment he advanced firing his Lewis gun from the hip at an enemy machine gun 150 yards away, knocking out the enemy gunners and enabling our line to get forward and achieve its objective. By his untiring cheerfulness during two days of hostile counter-attacks and heavy bombardment, he was of the greatest value in keeping up the spirits of his gun team'.
In addition to his DCM, William was Mentioned in Dispatches five times throughout the war.
He was discharged from the army on 29th July 1919, but the following day he re-enlisted into the Army Service Corps for two years service as Private EMT/55773. He remained with the ASC until his final discharge on 29th July 1921. The 'EMT' prefix indicates service with the 'Electrical Motor Transport' section, and this number range was used for men who re-enlisted after the war.
In 1920, William married Alice Hegarty and they went on to have 8 children. The 1939 National register listed the family at 68, South Avenue, as shown in the image below. Only 2 of their children are listed, Frederick and Patricia, as they both died within the period during which the register was maintained. The "closed" records refer to 5 of their other children, John, James, Joan, Roy and Kathleen
William died on 24th February 1979 at the age of 83 and rests in Prescot cemetery. His medals are held at the South Lancashire Regiment museum in Preston.
I am indebted to Joan Moran Levesque, daughter of William Moran, for additional information and verification of the above.
William Moran's Medal Index Card showing his medal entitlement and dates of service
The initial London Gazette entry for William's DCM
An Extract from the Wire Works "Link" magazine of September 1917
The citation for William's DCM
This picture, kindly provided by William's family, shows him on the right along with Herbert Ray, who were both awarded the DCM. It is assumed that the picture was taken at a regimental reunion, but the date is not know.
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