24 February 1919 We Lost 331
Major Wilfred Thomas De Lacey Clark (Royal Marine Light Infantry) dies at age 34. He is the son the Reverend Henry Clark.
Major Wilfred Thomas De Lacey Clark (Royal Marine Light Infantry) dies at age 34. He is the son the Reverend Henry Clark.
The last day of the Great War with over a thousand fatalities.
Second Lieutenant John Carlos Deremo (Royal Air Force) engages a large body of troops and transports from the air, and while doing this is heavily engaged by machine gun fire. His rudder control is shot away and tanks pierced. He lands about two miles on the enemy side of the lines and hides in a wooded area until dusk when he makes his way to our lines. He brings in a most valuable report as to the enemy’s movements and intentions, part of which information has been gleaned from civilians in the vicinity of his hiding place.
Captain Frank Clifton Gorringe (Royal Air Force) locates enemy troops dug in and attacks them from fifty feet, causing numerous casualties. He then lands close behind our infantry and informs them of the enemy’s position.
The battleship HMS Britannia is torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by the German U boat UB-50 while on her approach to Gibraltar. UB-50 fires three torpedoes, two of which strike the battleship causing her to sink in just over three hours after attempts by the destroyer HMS Rocksand and the sloop HMS Coreopsis to tow her to Gibraltar. There are over fifty killed including
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40th squadron moves from Bryas to Aniche on the Douai-Denain road.
Lance Corporal Colin Archibald Mungo Park (Royal Sussex Regiment) is killed in action at age 31. He is the son of the Reverend Mungo Park. In June 1941 his son, a World War II Royal Air Force ace will be shot down and killed by German Lufwaffe ace Wilhelm Balthasar who will die in combat less than one week later. Both of the younger men lost their fathers serving in their respective armies in the Great War.
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In driving rain and sleet 22-year old Private Frank Lester (Lancashire Fusiliers) performs a deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. During clearing operations in the village of Neuvilly with a party of about seven men under an officer, he is the first to enter a house from the back door. He shoots two Germans as they attempted to get out by the front door. A minute later a fall of masonry blocks the door by which the party has entered. The only exit into the street is under fire at point-blank range. The street is also swept by fire of machine guns at close range. Observing that an enemy sniper is causing heavy casualties to a party in a house across the street Lester exclaims, “I’ll settle him” and dashing out into the street, shoots the sniper at close quarters, falling mortally wounded at the same time.
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Captain William Henry Hubbard (Royal Air Force) while flying at altitudes between two and fifteen hundred feet engages and silences many anti-tank guns, thereby rendering valuable service. He at the same time completes a detailed and accurate reconnaissance of the area, locating the position of our troops. Lieutenant Gerald Anderson and Second Lieutenant Thomas Sydney Chiltern (Royal Air Force) bring down a Fokker D VII at Lambersart.
Lieutenant James Edward Maddox MM (Cheshire Regiment) is instructing a class in throwing live bombs. One of the men after withdrawing the pin from a Mills No V Mark 1 Grenade accidentally drops the grenade in the trench and then apparently through fright falls on it. Lieutenant Maddox with great presence of mind immediately pulls the man off the grenade seizes it and throws it over the parapet where it explodes almost immediately saving the man’s life. For his actions Lieutenant Maddox will be awarded the Albert Medal.
“Sanders Keep” is a German fortification two kilometers south west of Graincourt-Les-Havrincourt between the Hermies and Havrincourt roads. Today it is stormed by the Guards regiments. Among those killed in the battle is
During this operation (part of Battle of Canal du Nord) Captain Cyril Hubert Frisby (Coldstream Guards) is detailed to capture a canal crossing but when the canal is reading the leading platoon comes under annihilating fire from a strong enemy post under the bridge on the far side of the canal. Captain Frisby with Lance Corporal Thomas Norman Jackson and two others climb down into the canal under intense fire and succeed in capturing the post with two machines and twelve men. They then give timely support to a company which has lost all its officers and sergeants, organizing the defences and beating off a heavy counter attack. Both men will be awarded the Victoria Cross, though Lance Corporal Jackson will be killed at age 21 during the operation.
At Flesquières, France, when his company is held up during the advance by heavy machine-gun fire, Corporal Thomas Patrick Neely VC (Lancaster Regiment) realising the seriousness of the situation, at once under point-blank fire, dashes out with two men and rushes the gun positions, disposing of the garrisons and capturing three machine-guns. Subsequently, on two occasions, he rushes concrete strong-points, killing or capturing the occupants. His actions enabled his company to advance 3,000 yards along the Hindenburg support line. For his actions today he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross as he is killed three days later in action at Rumilly-en-Cambrésis, just south of Cambrai, France.
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Captain George Ritchie Hodgson, Flight Lieutenant James Lindsay Gordon, Leading Mechanic Sydney Francis Anderson and Wireless Telegraphist Bertram Harley Millichamp rescue two men from an upturned float in the North Sea.
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Three Gothas are shot down during a raid on England and a fourth crashes through bad flying.
S S Snowden (Master John Lewis Owen) is sunk eighty-four miles from Malta carrying coal to England. Her master is killed at age 29 along with one other crew member.
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At Zeebrugge, Sergeant Norman Augustus Finch (Royal Marine Artillery) is second in command of the pom-poms and Lewis gun in the foretop of HMS Vindictive. At one period Vindictive is being hit every few seconds, but Sergeant Finch and the officer in command keep up a continuous fire, until two heavy shells make direct hits on the foretop killing or disabling everyone except Sergeant Finch who is, however, severely wounded. Nevertheless he remains in his battered and exposed position, harassing the enemy on the Mole until the foretop receives another direct hit, putting the remainder of the armament completely out of action. Captain Edward Bamford (Royal Marines) lands on the Mole from HMS Vindictive with three platoons of the Royal Marines storming force in the face of great difficulties. When on the Mole and under heavy fire, he commands his company with total disregard of personal danger and shows a magnificent example to his men. He first establishes a strong point on the right of the disembarkation and when satisfied that it is safe, leads an assault on a battery to the left. Both men will be awarded the Victoria Cross for their efforts on this day.
Lieutenant Commander Arthur Leyland Harrison VC (HMS Lion, serving HMS Vindictive, Royal Navy) is killed while in the immediate command of the Naval Storming Parties embarked in HMS Vindictive. Immediately before coming alongside the Mole Lieutenant Commander Harrison is struck on the head by a fragment of a shell which breaks his jaw and knocks him senseless. Recovering consciousness he proceeds on the Mole and takes over command of his party, who are attacking the seaward end of the Mole. Though in a position fully exposed to the enemy’s machine gun he gathers his men together and leads them to the attack. His is killed at the head of his men all of whom are either killed or wounded. For his actions he is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously. He had been a member of the England Rugby Football Team in 1914 and dies at the age of 32.
Lieutenant Commander George Nicholson Bradford (Royal Navy) becomes the third brother in his family to be killed in action. He is in command of the naval storming parties embarked on HMS Iris II and they find there is great difficulty in placing the parapet anchors when the ship comes along the Mole. Although securing the ship is not part of his duties he climbs a derrick which is projecting out over the Mole and under heavy fire with the derrick crashing against the Mole because of the violent tossing of the ship he picks a moment and jumps with the anchor. Just as he places it in position he is killed at age 30. For his actions he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross; the second won by his family, his brother Roland Boys Bradford who was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1916 was killed in action last November.
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