Donald Forrester Brown Donald Forrester Brown ( 23 February 1890 – 1 October 1916 ) was a New Zealand soldier of World War I who was a posthumous 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 . Brown ' s Victoria Cross was the second won by a New Zealander during the war , and was the first awarded for actions on the Western Front . Early life . Brown was born on 23 February 1890 in Dunedin , New Zealand . After attending schools in Dunedin and Oamaru , he took up farming . When World War I broke out , he carried on farming for a year but then sold his farm and volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( NZEF ) on 19 October 1915 . Military career . Brown embarked for the Middle East to join the New Zealand Division , which had been formed after the Gallipoli Campaign and was in training in Egypt by the time he arrived in January 1916 . He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion , Otago Infantry Regiment , which by May was on the Western Front in France . Brown , by now a sergeant , earned his Victoria Cross in the Battle of Flers - Courcelette during the Somme Offensive . On the opening day of the battle , 15 September 1916 , his unit was tasked with capturing a series of German held trenches from their position south - east of High Wood . While the first trench was captured with ease with the assistance of effective artillery support , his company came under heavy flanking machine gun fire while advancing to the next trench line , which inflicted heavy casualties amongst the company . Brown , together with another soldier , Corporal J . Rodgers , attacked one machine gun post , killing the crew and capturing the gun . This allowed the remaining soldiers to regroup and prepare for an attack on the next trench , but during a covering artillery barrage they once again came under fire from a machine gun post . Brown was amongst those who attacked this second machine gun post , swiftly dealing with the threat . Once the covering barrage lifted , the New Zealanders advanced and successfully captured their next objective , the Switch Line . Brown was key in immediately improving the existing defences in preparation against a possible counterattack . The following day , his company along with the remainder of his battalion was relieved and able to withdraw . Brown ' s company lost 123 men from its initial complement of 180 during the opening day of the battle . The Otago Regiment was back in the line on 1 October for the Battle of Le Transloy . In an attack on a German strongpoint near Eaucourt L ' Abbaye , Brown was again involved in the seizing of an enemy machine gun post which was holding up the advance . Moving forward on his own , and armed only with a pistol , Brown attacked the post , killing its crew and capturing the gun . This allowed his fellow troops to attack and capture the strongpoint . During this attack , Brown was shot in the head by a sniper and killed instantly . Brown ' s company commander had recommended him for a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions on 15 September , and his battalion commander had written to Brown ' s father indicating that he had hoped that Brown ' s recommendation would be upgraded to a Victoria Cross . However , with Brown ' s death it was not until the officers of his battalion started agitating for a Victoria Cross nomination that any progress was made . The award of the Victoria Cross to Brown , the first earned by a soldier of the NZEF on the Western Front , was gazetted on 15 June 1917 , and it was duly presented to his father by the 2nd Earl of Liverpool , New Zealand ' s Governor General , on 30 August 1917 . Brown is buried at Warlencourt British Cemetery , France . His Victoria Cross is held by his family .