The Elk Mountain pilot., 1916-11-09
Greatest Honor That Can Cor 9
to Soldier Fighting for
Great Britain.
SOME HEROES LOSE LIVES
Deeds of vaIor In Battle for Which
Men Were Decorated Make Task
More Thrilling Than Fiction
Majority From Ranks of
Workers.

London.-In the course of the great
war nearly 200 British and colonial
soldiers have won the Victoria Cross,
the greatest honor that can come to
Il man who fights for Great Britain.
Most of the awards have gone to men
of humble station. Two of them be-
gan life so doubtfully that they "com-
pleted their education under the en-
forced discipline of reformatories and
industrial schools. Others were quiet
living working-class folk before the
war.
But 1t is curious to note that nearly
all of them seem to have had a spice
of the English love of games in their
natures-the games in which they
learned to be fearless of physical dan
ger and careful only for the achieve
ment of what they had in view. Take
the case of Private James Miller, v.
c., of the Royal Lancashire regiment,
of whom 1t Is said:
He was great believer in keeping
cool. They called him plodder, and
when he played football he suffered
from lack of devil Once he gave u
good hiding to bigger fellow who
had fouled him four times very badly.
he was silent man and there was
nothing in his life to suggest that he
was anything more than a very re-
spectacle, Woodworking paper-mill la
borer."
But this is what he did:
'Ordered to take an important mes
7ar Oh ,-ta a~A
and bring back u reply at all costs,
he succeeded in spite of gaping
wound in his abdomen, which he COM
pressed with his hand and falling dead
ut the feet of the officer to whom he
delivered the message"
What Some of Them Did.
One of the new V. C.'s, Private
Veale, of the Devonshire regiment,
coolly went out to Il wounded officer,
who was lying in growing corn within
80 yards of the enemy. dragged him
to shell hole, went back for water,
returned, went back again and brought
assistance, and after several attempts
covered an approaching enemy patrol
with Lewis gun and saved the Of
hcer.
When King George was Mt the front
recently, Private Thomas Turnbull of
the Worcester regiment was called out
of the trenches to be spoken to by the
king. Writing home to his mother he
said, subsequently: II cannot tell
what passed. / trembled all over" A
few days later in the middle Of fierce
fighting he remained with his wound
ed officer for three hours under con-
tinuous fire from machine guns and
bombs, and, although at one time COM
pletely cut off, he held his ground and
finally carried the officer into the Brit
ish lines. He was painter and paper
hanger by trade, and an enthusiastic
cyclist.
A young Yorkshire man named Don
aid Simpson Bell was schoolteach-
er at Harrogate, and a footballer.
During an attack, in heavy enfilade
fire, he crept up communication
trench. followed by two men, rushed
across the open under heavy fire, shot
the machine gunner, destroyed the
gun and personnel with bombs, saving
many lives and insuring the success
of the attack. For this he got the ".
G. He lost his life five days later in
similar act of bravery.
A Lancashire boy named James
Hutchinson was only a worker in n
spinning mill when the war broke out
This is his story of an attack on the
German trenches in the Somme front.
After describing the terrible rush over
the bullet-strewn No Mans Land he
says:
Gets Seven In a Trench.
''Soon afterward 1 reached the Ger
man trenches, quite breathless, but
was soon through n gap In the WIRE
which our artillery had cut for us. The
first thing l saw was big German
firing down the trench and knocking
chalk Off the side. When he had fin
ished his little game l rushed around
the traverse and put my bayonet
through him.
There was another Boche there,
and when he saw me he commenced
to run toward a dugout, but seemed
to slip back step, so 1 promptly got
him through the head. Another was
resting on one knee, and started shout
Ing for mercy, but he paid the same
penalty. l next went round another
traverse, and found three more Ger
mans, and they all met with the same
fate, either with the bayonet or rifle
bullet. Hurrying round the next ira
verse l saw about seven Huns throw
Ing hand grenades at the lads who had
not got In the trenches, but were fight