The Right Reverend Mark Green MC RIP

Adrian Roberts · Sep 23, 2009

The Right Reverend Mark Green - Telegraph

The Right Reverend Mark Green
The Right Reverend Mark Green, who has died aged 92, was a sensitive and resourceful Army chaplain decorated for rescuing wounded soldiers from the front during the Second World War; some 30 years later he was a quietly effective Suffragan Bishop of Aston, Birmingham.

Green first demonstrated his quick thinking in a landing craft just before D-Day when unexpectedly asked if the Church had a message for the troops to accompany those of the King and General Montgomery. Though aware that it was hardly "Cry God for Harry and St George", he improvised by adapting a letter Army chaplains had received from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Landing on June 7 1944 with 27th Lancers as part of 29th Armoured Brigade, he based himself at a regimental aid post to help with the wounded and do anything required, bar fight. On D+3 he caught up with some 24th Lancers tanks shooting in all directions about seven miles inland. "Directly you dodged one," he recalled, "you found another pointing its gun straight at you – about as dangerous as crossing Trafalgar Square blindfolded. When I found that I had walked along a hedgerow behind which a whole squadron of our tanks was concealed, all with their guns aimed at the level of my head, I felt like having a go at the doctor's whisky."

After establishing another aid post on a wooded rise under mortar fire, Green led a night convoy of six lorries carrying rations into the village of St Pierre, where the British were at one end and the enemy at the other. The convoy became lost. One lorry had its back wheels blown off. Fearing capture, he was tearing up all his papers when an officer appeared in a Jeep, asked why he was tearing up his maps, and said: "Padre, this is an invasion not a picnic."

Green diligently performed his clerical duties, counselling men suffering shock, dispensing tea and holding open-air services, though the size of his congregations was limited by the threat of air attack.

He found himself weeping while conducting the burial service for one friend, but admitted that the greatest strain came from maintaining his reverence while scraping charred bodies out of burned tanks.

He often found it impossible to pray in the lull between action but, carrying a copy of Thomas a Kempis's Imitation of Christ, pondered instead the characteristics which soldiers under fire shared with the suffering Christ.

While appreciating how much he was learning about life, he was also conscious of the coarsening effects of battle. When he gave a farmer his two-stroke motorbike in exchange for some eggs he decided that it was not a sin – the bike was no use – but uneasily suspected the War Office might have disagreed.

After the regiment was disbanded in late July because of heavy losses, Green transferred to the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. On November 18 1944 a squadron lost four of its five Sherman tanks during the battle of Tripsrath in Germany, when the enemy's command of the road made it very difficult to evacuate casualties.

On his own initiative Green drove a Honey tank to collect the wounded, and then stayed for some time to give encouragement to all in the area. The following day he went on to Rischeden to collect more wounded men under heavy artillery fire.

In the citation to his immediate MC, Green's commanding officer wrote that his gallantry and quick leadership enabled many casualties to be evacuated far more quickly than would otherwise have been possible: "His indifference to danger has earned him high merit, and I can personally vouch for the inspiration which he gave during this battle."

Mark Green was born on March 28 1917. His father was chaplain to the Tower of London where, he claimed, "you could almost smell Evil". When, as a boy, Mark followed a Guards band in his pedal car on to the parade ground, he found himself swept up in a "mass of hard men". His parents asked the Tower's governor to impress on him his error. After education at Rossall he was articled to a solicitors' firm in Birmingham before reading Theology at Lincoln College, Oxford.

When war broke out Green joined up, and was training at Sandhurst when told he could defer his service to complete his degree. He told himself that he could do most good as a priest. But on later reading the names of fellow cadets in the Dunkirk casualty lists, he recognised an element of cowardice in his decision, and was filled with self-loathing.

When he arrived at Cuddesdon College to prepare for Holy Orders, the principal complained that he only had a third class degree, and a wrangle ensued which was only resolved by Green asking his bishop to ordain him early. A curacy in Gloucester and an appointment as succentor at Sheffield cathedral followed before he was posted as chaplain to the 24th Lancers.

After the war Green stayed on in Germany for 18 months, then returned to civvy street as director of service ordination candidates before taking incumbencies at Newland, Hull, and Teesside.

He returned to the Army in the mid-1950s as chaplain to the Royal Norfolks in Hong Kong and warden of the Army School of Religious Instruction in Singapore. Then he became rector of Cottingham in Yorkshire, vicar of Bishopthorpe and honorary chaplain to Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of York. In 1972 he was consecrated Bishop of Aston.

For 10 years Green's low-key pastoral ministry provided a contrast to Laurie Brown and Hugh Montefiore, two of Birmingham's more colourful bishops. As an old-fashioned, celibate Tractarian, he had little taste for modern procedures of choosing ordinands, and was responsible for the pioneering Aston training scheme for candidates who had not been to university.

He not only confirmed large numbers of teenagers but ran post-confirmation weekends to prevent them from lapsing.

He spoke out about the dangers posed by the National Front and also chaired an exorcism study group to keep an eye on the increasing numbers of witches' covens in the Midlands. He said that the Church took the threat from the "black arts" seriously, but admitted the "services of exorcism must be handled with skill and understanding".

As a driver, however, he was a source of anxiety. More than one car perished at his hands. It was not unknown for him to knock on the door of the parsonage nearest his latest mishap to borrow the vicar's vehicle. Wiser clergy declined but happily chauffeured him to his destination.

On retiring he moved to Sussex, where he became an assistant bishop of Chichester, and served Christ Church, St Leonard's, and St Mary's, Eastbourne. He was also provost of the Woodard Schools in the southern division.

Although no scholar, Green's work included two small but admired works, Diary of Doubt and Faith (1974), a work of encouragement for laymen, and Before I Go (2005), which contains reflections on the different kinds of love and his memories of being under fire.

Mark Green died on August 2.
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liverpool annie · Sep 23, 2009

Heres another one of those men who was a very " ordinary " man - meaning "gentle " ...... but he obviously had a very strong inner core !

RIP Reverend Green

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