Ellsworth American., 1918-04-24
BAYONETS THREE HUNS, BRAINS
FOURTH, SAVES DAY FOR BRITISH
Bob" Hanna of Vancouver Wins Victoria Cross for Bravery in
Acion-One of the Most Thrilling Narratives Of the War;
if Not of All Time-Bows Up Hun Machine Gun
and Fights Single Handed in Trench.

nelu IN the NlSelhe grip bl Nut yVuhS
lumberman from Vancouver. A third
PruSsian-also of the Ffty-hfth--
dropped down in the trench as IL he
had collapsed, but as this was no time
for taking chances Hanna, now realiz-
ing that he was alone In a nest of the
enemy used his bayonet with effective
results. A fourth Prussian appeared
almost from nowhere. He had the
stock Of his rife In both hands on lev
ell with his shoulder and was prepar-
ing to drive the other end home IN the
form of the Canadian. But Hanna was
too quick for him. There was a mo-
mentary grinding of teeth. clash and
the fourth Prussian measured his
length on the earthen floor.
Blows Up Two Dueouts.
Hanna then tells OF what hap
pened during the next few minutes.
81 then discovered that l was alone
In the trench and l was wondering
where the other men were. moved
along. and at the entrance to a dug
out, which was. of course, dark, !
heard the buzzing OF voices. I, OF
course, knew that was In a dangerous
position. had no bombs. had used
my last one on the gun. | looked
around and discovered German bomb.
About that time / heard the Prussians
coming out Of the entrance to the dug.
out and l waited till they were about
on top of me when let the bomb fly.
II went off right In their faces. 1t was
quiet then.
~ moved on a few feet further and
saw another dugout entrance. II was
the other end of Z. There I heard
more voices. II didn't look very prom
Using for me. hunted around quickly
and found two more German bombs.
/ threw the two into the dugout, hold
ing them Just long enough so they ex-
ploded a second after they left my
hand. There was no more noise In this
dugout"
Hanna's story stops here when he
tells IT. He was the only man OF his
company TO be left by the withering
fire of the machine gun he had stilled
with a lucky throw of bomb. There
were no officers anywhere about Some
soldiers OF another battalion appeared
presently. and he took command OF
them and led charge through the en-
tire trench, cleaning 1t up" as the
saying goes.
He Saves Two Battziions
The whole maneuver was quickly
understood. battalion which had
been despatched to join the Twenty
ninth had gone by the trench. Some
OF the Twenty-ninth also had gone by.
Hanna alone had stopped at the OBJ
1ective. Those who had not gone too
far had not been able to get far
enough. The Prussians had figured on
the Canadians passing the trench.
Their program undoubtedly had been
TO rise from their dugouts and with
the machine gun. which they did not
expect TO lose, wipe out the men of the
two battalions. 1t all might easily
enough have been done but for the
pluck and the Quickness OF Hanna.
It was some time later when the
young man from British Columbia was
called to brigade quarters. The COM
mander had learned all about his dar-
ing exploit. The young sergeant ma
jor. who twice before this had been
recommended for honorable mention,
was promoted TO the rank of Heuten-
ant and now he is back in France
waiting for a her opportunity to add
to the glory OF Canada. and, as he
proudly says, TO do what an Irishman
should