John Gough ( VC ) Brigadier General Sir John Edmond Gough VC , KCB , CMG ( ; 25 October 1871 – 22 February 1915 ) , known as Johnnie Gough , was born in Muree , India and was a recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Background . Gough , known as " Johnnie , " was the son of General Sir Charles John Stanley Gough VC , and nephew of General Sir Hugh Henry Gough VC , both of whom won their VCs during the Indian Mutiny in 1857 . This gave the family the rare distinction of holding the VC simultaneously by father , brother and ( father ’ s ) son . He was also the younger brother of General Sir Hubert Gough ( 1870 – 1963 ) , who led the British Fifth Army on the Western Front during the First World War . Gough served in British Central Africa ( 1896 ) ; the Sudan ( 1898 ) ; 1898 Occupation of Crete ( 1898 – 99 ) , the Second Boer War ( 1899 – 1902 ) ; and in British Somaliland ( 1903 and again in 1909 ) . He attended the Army Staff College at Camberley in 1904 - 05 , then returned to the College as a highly influential teacher from 1909 - 1913 . Victoria Cross details . Gough was 31 years old , and a Brevet Major in The Rifle Brigade ( Prince Consort ' s Own ) , British Army during the Third Somaliland Expedition when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC . On 22 April 1903 , Gough was in command of a column on the march which was attacked by an enemy force in superior numbers led by Mohammed Abdullah Hassan near Daratoleh , British Somaliland . After conducting a successful defence , then a fighting withdrawal , Gough came back to help two captains ( William George Walker and George Murray Rolland ) . The captains were helping a mortally wounded officer . They managed to get the wounded officer onto a camel , but then he was wounded again and died immediately . The two captains won the VC for their actions . However , Gough played down his own part in the event . It was not until late in the year that the true story came out indicating that Gough was equally deserving of recognition . He was subsequently awarded the VC in January 1904 . The King presented the medal to him at Buckingham Palace on 29 February 1904 . He was appointed Aide - de - Camp to the King in August 1907 . Curragh Incident . Prior to the outbreak of the First World War , Gough was Chief of Staff to Lt - Gen Haig at Aldershot . He played a role in the Curragh Incident in March 1914 , in which his brother and other cavalry officers stationed in Ireland threatened to resign rather than coerce Ulster Protestants who had no wish to be part of a Home Rule Ireland . Gough accompanied his brother , who had been suspended from duty , to a meeting in London with the Adjutant - General Ewart ( morning of Sunday 22 March ) , where Hubert confirmed that he would have obeyed a direct order to move against Ulster . Johnnie was in the War Office on 23 March , when French ( CIGS ) agreed to Hubert ' s demand that he amend a Cabinet document to promise that the Army would not be used to enforce Home Rule on Ulster . French may have been acting in the belief that the matter needed to be resolved quickly after learning from Haig that afternoon that all the officers of " Aldershot " Command would resign if Hubert were punished , but was later forced to resign . First World War . Gough went to France as a Brigadier - General with the British Expeditionary Force and Chief of Staff to Douglas Haig ' s I Corps . In early 1915 he continued as Haig ’ s principal staff officer when Haig was given command of the newly created British First Army . By February 1915 whilst working on planning for the forthcoming attack at Neuve Chapelle , Gough was chosen to command one of the New Army divisions . This appointment was due to commence sometime in March and would have meant his promotion to Major General . Quotes from " Johnnie Gough , VC " by Ian F . W . Beckett ( 1989 ) . Gough was quoted as making a famous remark in November 1914 that was to be repeated as inspirational in the dark days of March 1918 . ‘ As he watched the enemy swarming over a low ridge one of his staff said the fight was decided . Gough turned with his eyes ablaze and exclaimed : “ God will never let those devils win . ” ’ ( p 194 ) . ‘ Through Johnnie ’ s death Haig lost a sounding board which was highly constructive yet far from uncritical . Had Johnnie gone on to command a division then it seems almost certain that , as predicted by so many contemporaries , he would have risen much further in the army . Johnnie was a convinced “ westerner ” in strategic terms and a “ fighting general ” . The army high command ’ s commitment to the Western Front and to strategic offensives on that front would not have changed had Johnnie lived , but as he had demonstrated in his Staff College days he was a supreme realist and the conduct of these offensives might well have been modified by his influence with and , especially , by his ability to relate to Douglas Haig ’ ( p 208 ) . Other Opinions . A contemporary , General Sir George Barrow , described Johnny as “ a twentieth - century Chevalier Bayard … had he lived he might have gone to the top of the Army ” . To some extent Hubert Gough replaced his brother Johnnie as Haig ’ s sounding board . Death . On 20 February 1915 Gough was visiting his old battalion , the 2nd Battalion , The Rifle Brigade , at Fauquissart , about 3 km north of Neuve Chapelle on the front line , about 2 km west of Aubers . His mortal wounding by a sniper there was very unlucky since the single shot that struck him in the abdomen was thought to have been a ricochet fired from approximately 1000 yards distance . He was moved to the 25th Field Ambulance at nearby Estaires , about 7 km behind the front line , where he eventually succumbed to his wound and died in the early morning of 22 February . He was buried that afternoon in Estaires Communal Cemetery , France located 7 miles south west of Armentieres in Plot II . Row A . Grave 7 . Gough was also posthumously knighted , being gazetted KCB on 22 April 1915 . Legacy . Gough is memorialised in Winchester Cathedral . Gough ’ s Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets Museum , in Winchester , England .