ROLL OF HEROES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21992, 18 June 1941, Page 2

ROLL OF HEROES

The Victoria Cross Fifteen Valiant Men With the announcement last week that a second-lieutenant in the Corps of Indian Engineers has been awarded the Victoria Cross, 15 heroes of this war have now won the simple bronze cross which is Britain’s supreme award for valour. The Indian officer’s V.C. was the first awarded to one of his race in the present war. An account of his bravery was given recently by an American correspondent. He stated that the engineer bad worked for 96 hours with only one rest period clearing 14 mine fields, each of 300 mines, along a road in Eritrea. He had five cars blown out from under him and five crews wiped out, but he finally arrived back at the Khartoum Hospital with many injuries and permanent deafness. When he was offered relief during his 96-hour stretch he refused, saying: "I understand the Italian mine-laying technique better than anyone else could learn it in many days.” Epic Baid an Narvik There are holders of the Victoria Cross in many branches of the Empire’s forces. The first winner was the late Captain B. A. W. WarburtonLee, who led the desperate destroyer raid on Narvik in HM.S. Hardy. The first awards in the Royal Air Force were to two airmen who sacrificed their lives to blow up a bridge across the River Meuse, in Belgium, during the German invasion. They were Flying Officer D. E. Garland and Sergeant T. Gray, pilot and observer of a bomber. From the countless deeds of heroism in the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Flanders, those erf two officers and twp non-commissioned officers were selected for the distinction. Captain H. M. Ervine-Andrews, East Lancashire Regiment, received the decoration for bravery in defending a line in front of Dunkirk. LanceCorporal H. Nicholls, Grenadier Guards, now a prisoner of war, silenced three German machine-guns, firing a Bren gun from the hip in leading a counter-attack. Rescued Wounded Batman Second-Lieutenant R. W. Armand, Durham Light Infantry, single-handed and wounded, drove off with grenades a German party attempting to repair a bridge on the River Dyle, in Belgium, and later rescued his wounded batman. Company Sergeant-Major G. Gristock, Royal Norfolk Regiment, who died of wounds, destroyed a machinegun post alone to help extricate his company. Outstanding valour as commander of the armed trawler Arab at Namsos earned Lieutenant-Commander R. B. Stannard, R.N.R., the coveted decoration, and the ninth winner was an airman, acting Flight Lieutenant R. A. 3. Learoyd. who successfully bombed the important aqueduct carrying the Dortmund-Ems Canal over the River Ems in face of intense point-blank fire. The Navy’s third Victoria Cross winner was Leading Seaman Jack Mantle, who died at his gun on the Foylebank fighting aircraft.

Eighteen-Years-Old Hero The first Scottish V.C. was 18-year-old Sergeant John Hannah, wireless operator and air-gunner of a bomber, who fought fire when an anti-aircraft shell burst inside the bomb compartment. Lieutenant F C. T. Wilson, East Surrey Regiment, received the 12th award for holding a machine-gun post for four days in the face of direct field artillery fire. Captured by the Italians, he later regained his freedom. A feat which stirred the world, the fight of the merchant cruiser Jervis Bay against an enemy raider on November 5 won Captain E. S. Fogarty Fegen, R.N., a posthumous Victoria Cross. Bravery in yet another form resulted in the decoration of Flight Lieutenant J. B. Nicolson, Royal Air Force, who brought down a Messerschmitt while his own machine was blazing with flames.