Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-04-24
BAYONETS THREE HUNS, BRAINS
fourth, SAVES DAY FOR BRITISH
Bob" Hanna Of Vancouver Wins Victoria Cross for Bravery
ActOn-0ne of the Most Thrilling Narratives of the War;
Not of All Time-BIows Up Hun Machine Gun
and Fights Single Handed in Trench

No. 1851. c. s M 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
on three assaults of the company, with
heavy casualties This warrant officer,
iElder heavy machine gun and rifle FIRE,
cooily collected party OF men. and lead
ing them against the strong point, rushed
through the wire and personally bayo-
netted three OF the enemy and Drained
the fourth, capturing the position and ST.
lencing the machine gun.
This most courageous action displayed
courage and personal bravery OF the high
est order at this most critical moment of
the attack. was responsible for the cap
ture OF a most important point. and but
for his daring action and determined
handling Of a desperate situation the at
tack would not have succeeded. c. s.
Ms outstanding gallantry. personal eour-
age and determined leading Of his com
pany is deserving of the highest possible
reward-From the British Official Ga
zette
Fought Huns Single Handed.
And so Sergeant Major (Now Lieu
tenant) Bob" Hanna, of Vancouver.
b. c.. received the Victory cross. The
reprint from the Official Gazette reads
almost like a 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 1t merely was a days work.
To the men of the twenty-ninth Van
couver battalion the Victory cross.
which is securely pinned to Hanna's
waistc0at, is emblematic Of one Of the
thrilling personal narratives of the en-
tire war. If not, in fact, of all time.
Stories Of ga'lantry and self-sacriice
will be told while the world endures.
hut II will remain for new race TO
roll up 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 ~ Sn
one after another before this medium
sized young lumberman from the for
ests Of British Columbia One moment
Hanna's life wasn't worth a penny. a
TALON, and a 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 TO- 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
Vimy 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 a time, had escaped injury.
yimy was bloody spot. The Cana
dams were there as they were at the
Somme, Ypres, Lens and Passchen-
daele. Near Hill 40 was a stub Of a
trench which the Canadians had come
20 realize was tho worst spot they had
10 face. II was only a link and hardly
could be seen, but it was known to
be nasty point, and the twenty-ninth
battalion was told TO take ii. For two
hours. waiting for dawn. the battalion
crawled out on its 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