What was it that was done by this youngest of the V.C.'s this stripling of eighteen who, before he enlisted, was a messenger-boy to a greengrocer? He displayed "most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty" at Hill 60 on April 20th, 1915; and he did so in a very singular way. "When his trench was heavily attacked by German grenade throwers," says the official record, "he climbed on to the parapet, and although subjected to a hail of bombs at close quarters, succeeded in dispersing the enemy by the effective use of his hand grenades." Those vague, general terms do not enable us to see the episode. It discloses itself vividly in the terse sentences of Dwyer himself:—
"All our chaps were either killed or wounded. I was the only unwounded man left in the trench. The Germans were in a trench only fifteen yards away, so close that I could hear them talking in their lingo. I knew that if they took the trench I was in it would be a bad job for our trenches behind. So I collected all the hand grenades left in our trench until I had about a hundred in all. There were three steps leading up to the parapet of the trench. For a while I sat crouched on the middle step. Then I found myself on the parapet hurling grenades at the Germans. Shells and hand bombs were bursting all over and around me, but nothing touched me at all. I kept on throwing until help came and the trench was safe. I was pretty well done up when I jumped down into the trench, mad with joy and without a scratch. The relieving party chaffed me a lot, and called me 'The King of the Hand Grenades.'"
Dwyer gives an interesting account of his sensations in battle. As a rule, introspection in such circumstances is almost impossible, for the mind, when concentrated solely on the existing situation and strained with excitement almost to the cracking point, cannot well observe itself; but Dwyer is made of uncommon stuff mentally as well as physically. "Fear is a funny thing," he says. "It gets at you in all kinds of curious ways. When we've been skirmishing in open order under heavy fire I've felt myself go numb. Then the blood has rushed into my face—head and ears become as hot as fire, and the tip of my tongue swollen into a blob of blood. It isn't nice, I can tell you; but the feeling passes and one's nerves become steadier." He added what showed his real mettle: "I've never expected to get out of any fight I've ever been in. And so I just try to do my bit, and leave it at that." Dwyer made a most successful recruiter for the Irish regiments, in which, on account of his nationality, he specially interested himself.
Turning now for a while from the Irish privates to the Irish regimental officers who have won the V.C., we find the same pluck, endurance, and devotion to duty displayed. Second Lieutenant George Arthur Boyd-Rochfort, of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, is a type of the Irish gentry who have contributed to the British Army so remarkably large a number of gallant regimental officers and distinguished commanders, from the Duke of Wellington to Viscount French of Ypres. He had done no soldiering before the present war. The eldest son of the late Major R.H. Boyd-Rochfort, of the 15th Hussars, he succeeded to the family property at Middleton Park, Westmeath. Aged thirty-five, and the head of his family, all his interests centred in the work of the estate. Yet when the war broke out Mr. Boyd-Rochfort felt it his duty to join the Army, so that he might serve his country along with his younger brothers—Captain H. Boyd-Rochfort, of the 21st Lancers (now Brigade-Major of the 21st Cavalry Brigade), and Lieutenant Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, of the Scots Guards. To qualify himself physically for a commission in the Scots Guards he had to undergo two operations, which confined him to hospital for close on five months. He got his commission in April, 1915, went to the Front in June, and won the Victoria Cross on August 3rd, in the trenches between Cambria and La Bassée.
Lieutenant Boyd-Rochfort was afterwards wounded in a single-handed fight with two Germans—he knocked one down with the butt-end of his empty revolver and the other with his fist—and was invalided home, when the whole countryside turned out to do him honour. He gave the following account of his exploit:—
"It was at break of day, just before we were ordered to 'stand to,' we were working in the first line of trenches, and a trench that was nothing more than a graveyard. The first German trench was no more than fifty yards away, and their mortars and rifle grenades were simply spilling into us. Our trench was getting badly knocked about by the flying missiles. You must distinguish between these mortars and shells, because the mortars have a time fuse which explodes them without striking. I was just raising my head over the front of the trench, and, hearing the whiz, I said to my men, 'Look out.' Down they went. The bomb landed, and started to roll down from the top of the trench. I dashed forward and seized it, and threw it over the top of trench. Scarcely had it left my hand and reached the outside of the trench than it exploded with a terrific report. We were all buried under falling earth, but fortunately no one was hurt, although my cap was blown to pieces. My men were very appreciative of my action, and cheered and thanked me. Afterwards they wrote and signed a statement of what I had done, which they handed to the Colonel."
Another gallant Meath man was the late Lieutenant Maurice James Dease, 4th Batt. Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), who fell during the retreat from Mons, and was the first officer to gain the Victoria Cross in the great war. He was the only son of Mr. Edmund F. Dease, Culmullen, Drumree, Meath, and heir-presumptive to his uncle, Major Gerald Dease, of Turbotston, Westmeath. He was born September 28th, 1889, and was educated at Stonyhurst and at the Army Class, Wimbledon College. He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was gazetted Second Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers in February, 1910, becoming Lieutenant in 1912. In the same year he was appointed machine-gun officer to his regiment, and it was whilst in command of this section at Nimy, near Mons, on August 23rd, 1914, that Lieutenant Dease was killed and awarded the Victoria Cross. The official record is as follows:—
"During the action the machine-guns were protecting the crossing over a canal bridge, and Lieutenant Dease was several times severely wounded, but refused to leave the guns. He remained at his post until all the men of his detachment were either killed or wounded and the guns put out of action by the enemy's fire."
From the South of Ireland came the late Captain Gerald Robert O'Sullivan, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who won the V.C. in Gallipoli. A son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel George Ledwill O'Sullivan, 91st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and of Mrs. O'Sullivan, of Rowan House, Dorchester, he was born at Frankfield, near Douglas, county Cork, and spent most of his boyhood in Dublin. He passed into Sandhurst in 1907, and was gazetted to the Inniskillings on May 15th, 1909. Captain O'Sullivan was awarded the V.C. for conspicuous gallantry on two occasions, the official record of his deeds being as follows:—
"For most conspicuous bravery during the operations south-west of Krithia, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the night of July 1st-2nd, 1915, when it was essential that portion of a trench which had been lost should be regained. Captain O'Sullivan, although not belonging to the troops at this point, volunteered to lead a party of bomb-throwers to effect the recapture. He advanced in the open under very heavy fire, and in order to throw his bombs with greater effect got up on the parapet, where he was completely exposed to the fire of the enemy occupying the trench. He was finally wounded, but not before his inspiring example had led on his party to make further efforts, which resulted in the capture of the trench. On the night of June 18th-19th, 1915, Captain O'Sullivan saved a critical situation in the same locality by his great personal gallantry and good leading."