"FOR VALOR."

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 19 February 1915, Page 1

"FOR VALOR."

MORE .WINDERS OF THE V.C. H.M. the King has been' graciously! pleased to approve of the grant erf the) Victoria Cross to the undermentioned officer for conspicuous bravery whilst serf- j ing with the Expeditionary Force : '[ Lieutenant John Henry Stephen Dim- i ■me'r,'2nd Battalion the King's Royal '• , Rifle Corps'. This officer served his i machine gun during the attack on the - 12th November at Klein Zillebeke until he had been shot five times—three times by shrapnel and twice by bullets—and continued at his post until his gun was destroyed. Lieutenant Dimmer has sent to his m r° wllo lives in - Griffi ths road, South Wimbledon, a short account of the fighting in which he was wounded. He said: " Here is how it all happened. On Thursday last at about 1 o'clock we were suddenly attacked by the Prussian Guard—they shelled us unmercifully, and poured in a perfect hail of bullets at a range of about 100 yds. I got my guns going, but they smashed one up almost.immediatslv

~~.y c. u ™™ uiic ujj auirasi immediately, and then turned all their attention on the gun I, was with, and succeeded in smashing that; too, but before they completed the job I had been twice wounded, and was finally'knocked out with the gun. JMy face, is spattered with pieces of my gun and" pieces of shell, and I have a bullet in my face and four small holes in my right shoulder. It made rather a nasty, messof me at first, but now that.'l am washed and my wounds dressed I look quite all-right." Lieutenant Dimmer rose from the ranks. > He received his commission in 1908. and was afterwards specially selected by the Colonial Office for work in Africa, whence he returned on leave last spring. Lance-corporal Charles Alfred Jarvis, of the 57th Field Company of the lioyal Engineers, one of the first nine heroes to be awarded the V.O. in the present war, when congratulated on his 'achievement, remarked: '■ Yes, I am proud to have . gained the Cross, but all the fellows at the front deserve it." He is now among the wounded in the Cambridge ward at the London Hospital, and the coveted bronze cross was awarded to him, it will be remembered, for great gallantrv shown

at Genappes on August 23 in working for one and a-half hours under heavy fire, in full view of the enemy, and in successfully firing charges for the demolition of a bridge. "J have been very fortunate,'' he said, when he was persuaded to give his experiences. "I was among the first troops to arrive at Mons, and I have been through it all since. The Fridge in connection with which I have been given the Cross was over a canal, with lock-gates ,at either side. On the bridge some yards up the road was a stockade with British infantry behind it, and beyond that, on the left, say about 400 yds, stood a chateau from which a murderous fire was poured from German machine guns. Some distance away on the right of the road a thick wood hid German- snipers, while from behind their artillery were shelling us. for all they were worth. The -work on the bridge was done under fire from three sides. Near the bridge I found Captain 'Theodore Wright, V.C., wounded in the head, I wished to bandage him, but he said : 'Go back to the bridge; it must, be done,' and so I went. The British infantry were posted behind barricades, and I had to make quite a detour to get •■ round where I had to start operations."

A supplement to the 'London Gazette' announces that the King has approved of the grant of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned'- non-conimissioued officer for • conspicuous bravery whilst serving with the Expeditionary Force : No. 7.753, Lance-cotporai Wni. -Fuller, 2nd Battalion the Welsh Regiment, for conspicuous gallantry on 14th September, near Chivy, on the Aisne, by advancing about 100yds-to pick up Captain Haggard, who was mortally wounded, and carrying him back to coyer under very heav yfire and machine gun fire. The Cross was also awarded to Lieutenant David Nelson, who was until recently a ■ sergeant in L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, and was promoted for conspicuous gallantry on the field. He was a prisoner for four days hi a German hospital, but was recaptured by British troops. "I am recommended for bravery for capturing a machine gun and going into the Germans' firing line and shooting an officer and six men and turning their gun on them, and carrying in a mate of the King's Royal Rifles who was riddled with bullets."' Private George Wilson, of the Highland Light Infantry, wrote this to

his sister in Edinburgh. -The official account of his brave deed mentions hi 6 shooting of an officer and six men and his capture of the gun. Up to within 48 hours of the declaration of war Private Wilson was selling ne\repapers in the streets of Edinburgh. He had served in the Army, and went back to the tirade of his boyhood. Then he was called upon to rejoin. The latest gainers of this distinction are : Drummer Spencer John Best, of the Ist Battalion of East Laneashires, and Lance-corporal Frederick William Dobson, of the 2nd Battalion of Coldstreams. In regard to the former the official record says: For conspicuous gallantry near Le Gheev on the night of November 1-2, when, after nis officer, platoon sergeant, and section-■commander had been struck down, he took .. command, and with great presence of mind and coolness succeeded in holding the position. .Drummer Best had previously distinguished himself an two occasions (October 22 and 24) by bringing up. ammunition under a heavy shell and rifle fire, and again on November 3, when he brought into cover some wounded men who were lying exposed in the open, the description of the feat of Lancecorporal Dobson is as follows: • For conspicuous gallantry at Chavanne (Adene) on September 22, in bringing into cover on'two occasions under heavy fire wounded men who were Jyinn- exposed in the open.

—A Persistent Hero.— The following is the story told by a comrade of the incident which won for sergeant Harlock, 113 th Battery, K.F.A*.. the Victoria Cross: '•We were in action in an open field, aud it was hot, I can tell you—' Jack . Johnsons' and shrapnel. One shell buret right under Bombardier Harlock's gun and cut the trail in two clean, and killed the No. 1. Hariock got splinters in his light thigh. He went to the dressing station, and the doctor dressed him and told hmi to.gat int> the ambulance' andgo to the hospital. j "Well, Harlock goes outside, but he doesnt looMor any ambulance, but comesback to the battery. Hang me! He- | hadnt been there five minutes before he } got it jn the back. Down he walked onoe ; more to the dressing station, and when ; . he was dressed tlie doctor puts him in ; charge of an orderly. The pair set- out, but Harlock' pointed out to the orderly that the doctor seemed a bit 'narked,' and that there were plenty of men who wanted an orderly's attention more than he did,, and if the orderly went back to the dressing • station' he (Harlock) could find his way all right. "The orderly agreed about it, but says to Harlock: 'No jokes, mind, or you'll get me into (rouble. You go straight to the hospital.' Harlock said 'Good morning,' but thought if he could walk to the hospital he could just as easily go back to the old 113 th. So back he came again, and he hadn't been with us 'fire''minutes before he got some splinters in hi 6 arm. It was rotten ■ ln'n.t- anA W -™--.0. +..

it was rotten, luck, and he was afraid to go back to the doctor again, eo he just stayed there till we went out of action in the evening. ■ "Some of our. officers saw the doctor that night and told' him about Harlock, and -then they lad him down and reprimanded him. But I think they had their'' tongues in their cheeks when they did it. Anyhow, he's promoted sergreant and cot the Y.C." ' ; ' For conspicuous gallantry near Becelaere on the 11th November in clearing the enemy out of a portion of our trenches which they had succeeded in occupying. Heading* the charge, he bayoneted several of the enemy, and thereby relieved a dangerous situation. That'was the deed which has brought the Victoria Cross for the second time to Edinburgh during this war. This time the honor lias been conferred on an officer—Captain Walter lorrain Brodie. of the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infan•try, the same regiment, curiously enough, as Private Geo. Wilson, V.C., is serving in.' Btit the similarity in the two cases does not end there, for both Captain Brodie and Private Wilson won the Cross under cirdlTlKt.ailPße l-milioctoJ ~-Ul, J-l,„ £.IJ ■

circumstances connected with the field gun section. Captain Brodie was recentlyhome in Edinburgh on a few days' furlough, but he could not be induced to say much of the event which has covered him with glory. In letters home he described it, as "a bit of a scrap," and humorously' warned his family to "prepare for a shock," as he had been recommended for a" decoration. —Hand-to-hand Fight m Trench.— At the time of his daring exploit he was understood to have been in charge of a machine gun, and it would appear that at night he moved up to the trenches with ' his men to relieve i a unit of another regiment. Captain Brodie and several men were preparing to take what rest they could in one line of a trench which formed an angle, when the alarm was given that the sjnemy were making a rush along the ' other line of the trench, having, no doubt, in view the seizure of the machine gun! But the captain acted promptly, and, leading his men along the trench, fought the Germans to such purpose that they were completely, routed. Eighty of the enemy were killed and 11 taken'prisoners, Captain Brodie himself .'-accounting for several with the bayonet. Captain Brodie is the

seventh '* old boy " of Edinburgh Academv to gain -the V.C.