SECRET OF THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21100, 6 February 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

SECRET OF THE WAR.

♦ i NAVAL OFFICER'S VALOUR. j t | OWN MEN RECOMMEND V.C. i Strange war secrets were revealed in j London recently following the acquittal of ) Commander Charles Lester Kerr, who was j accused at the Old Bailey of blackmail- | ing " 11 r. Y." a Parliamentary candidate i at the genera] election, j It was disclosed that Command er b.err was recommended for the Victoria Cross ; by his own men—a tribute not known to ! have been accorded any other officer in I the history of the war. This extraordinary petition was made after Commander Kerr's conduct at Xieaport Bains, in Flanders, in July 1917. ; when he was in command of a battery of : 9.2 in. naval guns manned by a mired j crew of able seamen cf the Royal Navy j and Marines. ; A man who served under Commander Kerr in the epic engagement says: —He i was the bravest- man I ever met. At : Nieuport on July 10, 1917, during the | German push, the battery was so near i the front line that the emplacements were within ranee of machine-gun fire, j " Commander Kerr kepi up a devastat- | ing shelling, which played havoc with the i enemy. He was always cairn, kept the | battery tn action as though at practice, j and went out into intense gunfire to ; rescue wounded men. His men were so i impressed that they asked that he should ;be recommended tor a V.C. But this I could not be done, for he was in com- ; mand, and there was no senior officer to I pass on the recommendation." Tears flooded the eyes of Commander I Kerr when he heard the men's petition, and he declared that he was more ! touched by their loyalty than by any | award.