TALES OF THE V.C.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9998, 15 June 1918, Page 9

TALES OF THE V.C.

DEATH TO SAVE OTHERS

SELF-SACRIFICE AND DELIBERATE COURAGE.

?vot once, but many times during this war. tv hen a bomb was about to explode in a trench to the clanger of his comrades, has a British soldier chosen to offer nis own life in bis enloavour to save others.

Sometimes he lias deliberately sacrificed himself, as did Private McFacisscan, of the Royal Irish Rifles, who, when a box of Mills bombs fell in a crowded trench, and became ignited threw himself full length upon them, and thus_ saved his comrades at the cost of his own life. Not leas heroic was the act of Private William Butler, of the V\ O't Yorks. When a Stokes mortar shell began to burn in an emplacement, this gallant soldier ran with ii into the trench with the intention ol throwing it over the parapet. But, seeing that a party of men were passes at the time, ho shouted to them to get clear, and held the smoking shell to his breast, until they had reached cover. Not till then did ho thjvjw the shell out of the trench. Hardly had it left his bands, before it exploded, but. as if by a miracle. Private Butler escaped with bis life.

Soma two years earlier an officer of tr.o_ Guards had performed an action which required the same qualities of deliberate courage and presence or mind, for which he was afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross, At about 2 o’clock on the morning q. August 3rd, 1015, a small working par ty qf tire Scots Guards were enKiiged in building a traverse at the junction of two trenches, called “Tho Dell” and “Back Street,” betwpen Cambiin qjio La Baseee, Busy with their task they did not hear the low hesitating whistle followed by a dull thud, which betrays tho arrival of a Minnie Their first hint of danger was a sudden warning shout from 2nd Lieutenant Boyd Rochfort, who was tno officer an watch and was just making his way up “The Dell.” He was some six yards from the bomb when i lt; fnll- ■ lie m ieht easily have shouted to warn the others and saved mmseif by ducking behind a traverse. Lut no realised that if he did so the worfcc;g party would have no time to save thonMttivos.

feo he rushed forward, at once along the _ slippery duekboards, gripped the hissing thing from the mud on the side of the trench, where it had fallen, arva hurled it with all his might over the parapet. Ho was not an instant roo soon. The bomb had not gone inore than three yards when it burst; but there was now a stout buffer of oarth between it and tho working party, and it exploded harmlessly on the waste ground beyond the trench. Much the same spirit of self-sacrifice was shown by another officer of a: London regiment, 2nd Lieutenant George Catos, of tho 2nd Hiflo Brigade, on March Bth, 1917. The battalion had ■only, gone up to the t: that. night, and 2nd Lieutenant Cates atid a rifleman of his company set to work with the spado to deepen, part of tho trench. The rifleman was holding a sandbag while 2nd Lieutenant Catos shovelled tho loose earth into it. Suddenly his spade struck something hard, and both, men heard the low, venomous hiss which can only mean a bomb. 2nd Lieutenant Cates immediately stepped forward, and put his left foot upon it. It exploded almost at once. The rifleman, who was only a yard away, escaped injury, but 2nd Lieutenant Catos naid dearly for bis courage. His left font was horribly mangled, and he died tMt night of his wound*?. But his bravery met with its reward, for his name is written with the names of the men who have won tho highest honour that a soldier can receive.