Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-04-19
BAYONETS THREE HUNS, BRAINS
FOURTH, SAVES. DAY FOR BRITISH
Bob Hanna Of Vancouver Wins Victoria Cross for Bravery in
Action-0ne Of the Most Thrilling Narratives OF the War,
if Not of All Time-BIows Up Hun Machine Gun
and Fights Single Handler in french


No. 1891, G. 8. NJ Robert Hanna.
bravery IN attack when his company met
with most severe enemy resistance and
all the company officers became casual
ties. A strong point. heavily protected BY
wire and held By machine gun. had beaten
of three assaults OF the company, with
neavy casualties This warrant 3filcer
under heavy machine gun and rife fire,
coolly collected a party of men, and. lead
Ing them ..saIn-t the strong point, rushed
through the wire snG personally bayo-
netted three of the enemy and Drained
the fourth. capturing the position and si-
lencing the machine gun.
This most courageous action dispicged
courage and personal bravery of the high
est order at this most critical moment of
the attack. was responsible for the cap
ture of most important point, and but
for bis daring action and determined
handling of a desperate situation the at
tack would not have succeeded G. 3
MS outstanding gallantrv. PERSONAL cour-
age and determined leading Of his COM
pany is deserving OF the highest posslbi1
reward. From the British Official Ca
zette.
Fought Huns SinuIe Handed.
And so Sergeant Major (Now Lien
tenanD Bob" Hanna. Of Vancouver,
B. c., received the Victory cross. The
reprint from the Official Gazette reads
almost like hundred other thumb
nail sketches Of the bravery of the
boys In the trenches. but the last few
lines give 1T more or less distinction.
To Hanna IT merely was days work.
To the men of the twenty-ninth Van
couver battalion the Victory cross,
which Is securely pinned to Hanna's
waisfcoat, Is emblematic of one of the
thrilling personal narratives of the en-
tire war. If not, In fact of all time.
Stories OF gal.antry and self-sacrifice
will be told while the world endures,
but II viii remain for a new race TO
roll IN a single record TO overshadow
that Of Hanna. who dropped in a
trench all alone and single handed
fought the cream of the Prussian
guards--the men who never were de-
feated till then and who went down
one after another before this medium
sized young lumberman from the for
ests Of British Columbia. One moment
Hannas life wasn't worth penny. A
few minutes later he had saved a bat
talon, and little while later he was
transformed on the field from a SER
geant major to a lieutenant.
The government has had Hanna sit
for his portrait for the National Gal
lery.
over the Top Twenty-Five Times.
1t all happened at the battle of Vimy
Ridge. This particular incident took
place at Hill 20. Hanna had been in
many OF the worst BATTLES of the war
Before the valiant Canadians settled
down to their part of this slaughter OF
yimy Ridge Hanna had been over the
top twenty-five times had been at
grips with the Germans on numberless
occasions, and although stumbling
amid death and bursting shells for
days at titie. hat escaped injury.
Y;my was a bloody spot, The Cana
disns were there as they were at the
Solaine, Ypres, Lens and Passchen-
daele Near Hill 20 was stub OF a.
trench Which the Canadians had come
10 realize was the worst spot they had
to face. 1t was only link and hardly
could be seen, but 1t was known to
be a nasty point. and the twenty-n.nth
battalion was told to take 1t. For two
hours. waiting for dawn, the battalion
crawled out on It's belly in No Mans
Land. waiting to rush over and sur
prise the Huns, whose trench was 500
yards away. Unknown to the Cana
dams the Huns were crawling out from
their dugout to initiate the same move
ment against the Canadians. AT the
same moment two barrages started
one from the Germans and one from
the Canadians guns. The two lines of
crouching men arose and plunged