Piper Daniel Laidlaw outside the British Trench playing "Blue Bonnets over the Border" to hearten his comrades to the Attack.
(From the picture by S. Begg. By permission of The Illustrated London News.)
Private George Peachment, 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.
Near Hulluch, on 25th September, Private Peachment saw his company commander lying wounded, and crawled out to assist him. He knelt in the open by the side of his officer, and while bandaging him was struck first by a fragment of a bomb, then by a bullet which found its billet. Private Peachment was one of the youngest men in his battalion.
Private Arthur Vickers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
During the advance on the first line of German trenches the Warwickshires found themselves held up by wire. Without waiting for orders, Private Vickers ran forward through very heavy shell, rifle, and machine-gun fire and cut the wire. It was broad daylight, and as he stood up to do the work, he was in full view of the enemy. Thanks to his fine pluck, a way was opened for the battalion to advance again.
Lieutenant-Colonel Angus Falconer Douglas-Hamilton, 6th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders.
You will remember that on Sunday, 26th September, the Germans flung their reserves upon our worn-out men, and the situation was desperate. On Hill 70, when the battalions to the right and left had retired, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas-Hamilton rallied his men again and again and led them forward three times. There were now only about fifty of his brave lads left; nevertheless he cried, "Come on, men. We will show them how to charge." As they pressed forward he fell—"the bravest man the Camerons have lost."
Rifleman Kulbir Thapa, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles.
This gallant Gurkha, though badly hit, found a wounded man of the 2nd Leicestershire Regiment behind the first-line German trench, and strove to help him in. The British soldier urged him to save himself; but the Indian refused to leave his white comrade, and remained with him all day and night. In the early morning of 26th September, when a mist hung over the battlefield, he managed to get the Leicestershire man into a sheltered place. He then went out again and brought in two wounded Gurkhas. Finally he returned to the British soldier, and in full view of the enemy staggered with his burden across the zone of fire into safety.
Private Robert Dunsire, 13th Battalion, Royal Scots.
Private Dunsire, who was a collier before the war and had only been married six months when he enlisted, was one of that noble band who freely risked limb and life to save others. He was sitting on the parapet of a trench on Hill 70 when he saw a wounded comrade crawling painfully along. At once he made a dive out of the trench, got the wounded man on his back, and brought him in. A quarter of an hour later, he spied and rescued another poor fellow in distress. "This time," he said, "it was worse than the first, as the shells were bursting all around, and the snipers kept up a continuous fire." Early in February 1916 the sad news arrived that he had been killed.
Corporal James Dalgleish Pollock, 5th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders.
About noon on 27th September, when the enemy's bombers in superior numbers were working up the "Little Willie" towards the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Corporal Pollock got out of his trench, and walking along the top edge reached a position from which he was able to bomb the bombers from above. He was under heavy machine-gun fire the whole time, but was not wounded for a whole hour, during which time he prevented the Germans from advancing.
Corporal Alfred Alexander Burt, 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment (T.F.).
At Cuinchy on 27th September Corporal Burt's company had lined the front trench, ready for an attack, when a bomb from a trench mortar fell amongst them. In a moment Corporal Burt rushed forward, put his foot on the fuse, wrenched it out of the bomb, and threw it over the parapet, thus rendering the terrible missile harmless. His presence of mind and great pluck saved the lives of his men in the traverse.
Second Lieutenant Alexander Buller Turnbull, 3rd Battalion (attached 1st Battalion), Royal Berkshire Regiment.
On 28th September, when his regimental bombers could not make headway at Fosse 8, Lieutenant Turnbull went along a communication trench practically alone, and threw bombs so quickly and accurately that he drove back the Germans about 150 yards. By his gallantry he enabled the reserves to advance and to cover his regiment in its retirement. Unhappily this hero died shortly afterwards of wounds.