plains outside Catania, where German forces put up strong resistance. The Green Howards, as part of the 15th Brigade, made a night attack on 19 July. However, conditions were more difficult than expected and the brigade came under heavy fire. Verity commanded B Company, which was surrounded in the confusion. Attempting to secure the position, Verity was hit in the chest by shrapnel and had to be left behind as the company retreated. The last order he gave was "keep going". Severely wounded and subsequently captured by the Germans, Verity was taken to a field hospital and underwent an operation. Taken by boat across the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland, Verity first went to a hospital in Reggio Calabria and was then transported for two days by train to Naples. The German hospital was full, so Verity was sent to the Italian hospital at Caserta. By this stage, Verity was very ill and had another operation to relieve pressure from his rib onto his lung. The operation seemed successful but Verity deteriorated rapidly over the following three days, bleeding heavily. He died on 31 July, and was buried with full military honours. His grave was later moved from the town's cemetery to the military cemetery established by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Bradman wrote in an obituary: "I cannot ever recall hearing Verity utter a word of complaint or criticism ... if reports of his final sacrifice be correct ... he maintained this example right to the end." When first-class cricket resumed in 1945, Yorkshire staged a memorial match for Verity against Lancashire at Bradford Park Avenue, which resulted in a draw. Later, several Yorkshire players visited his grave; some members of the MCC team under Len Hutton's captaincy in 1954–55, including Hutton, journalists and former Yorkshire player Abe Waddington paid tribute there while en route for Australia. Personal life Verity married Kathleen Alice Metcalfe, a bookbinder and the daughter of a sales agent, on 7 March 1929. The two had known each other as children in Headingley and met again at a Rawdon youth club social event. They had two sons, first Wilfred, named after Wilfred Rhodes, and then George Douglas, named after George Hirst and Douglas Jardine. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, Kathleen Verity began to suffer from poor health, and the family planned a trip to South Africa in the English winter of