A GALLANT ACT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145957, 15 October 1917, Page 5

A GALLANT ACT.

BY A WELLINGTON SOLDIER. & EIGHTS A FIRE AMONGST AMMUNITION, “Military Cross. Second Lientenanjt Victor James Gallic 8.F.A., Special .Reserves, attached A 14Jth Uriga.dc,

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst with his battery under heavy shell-fire, in the course of which a gun-pit was struck, the gun destroyed, and the ammunition set on fire. M ith the aid of a sergeant ho entered the pit and made gaUa-nt efforts to extinguish the fire, showing great promptitude and cooliiciss in dealing with a serious situation.’ ’■

The above is the reference in the London Gazette to theJieroic ; incident which gained tlio Mi rtary Cross for Lieutenant Victor Gallie, son of Mi. John Gallic of Stoke Street, Newtown, and prior to the outbreak of the war on the local stall of the Union Bank of Australia. AVrittng to his father on July 7 Lieutenant Gallie said; “Awfully bucked with myself. Yesterday evening, whilst doing F.O.D. for the brigade, I spotted a column of wagons on a road in Bocholanu. A long wav off it was, so I watched it for a. while,' and suddenly the wagons puffed up, and platoon after platoon of infantry got out and marched over the fields in the direction of certain communication trenches behind the Boche front line. I traced the road on a map, and rang it through to the ‘hea-vies’—6o-poun-dcrs and 6 and 8-in. nowitzers—and then rang through to my brigade re the infantry. They in, turn rang through to the other batteries of the brigade, and I got going with my own battery. By the time they were ready old Boche and Co. had advanced a good way, no doubt thinking they were under cover of a certain crest and were quite safe. I slipped in two or three rounds from No. 1 juet to correct the angle and range, and then came over the ‘heavies.’ Geo! they did create havoc amongst the horses and vehicles on the road. They got right on to them and did not give them a chance. The infantry began to run, and I sent a message through to the brigade to open fire, and over came the snarling IS’-pounder time shrapnel, bursting beautifully. God you should have seen the mess . and heard the noise. The “heavies’ whacking and sweeping along the road apcl the fieldguns biting bits of the running Bodies. In about ten minutes tho show was over, and ‘all was quiet on the Western front!’ “Nothing could be seen when the smoko cleared except little black objects lying out on the white chalk patches. I know what they were. “Tho infantry said I had got right on to an infantry relief and wore awfully bucked up about it. ‘Mon Colon eP smiled and said: ‘Very good. Gallic, . come and have dinner at brigade tonight. ’ I replied that I would ho delighted.”