branch death_place death_date birth_place unit awards battles birth_date placeofburial rank image article_title name
23px british army reading , berkshire , england 3 november 1943 -lrb- aged 50 -rrb- reading , berkshire , england 1/1st berkshire yeomanry victoria cross world war i - battle of gallipoli 18 december 1892 reading crematorium lance-corporal frederick william owen potts.jpg fred potts
 frederick william owen potts
fred potts

frederick william owen potts vc -lrb- 18 december 1892 -- 3 november 1943 -rrb- , more commonly known as fred potts , was an english 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 .
potts was born on 18 december 1892 , and first came to public notice in 1913 , when he saved a five-year-old boy named charles rex from drowning in the river thames .
by 1915 , he was 22 years old , and a private in the 1/1st berkshire yeomanry of the british army .
during the gallipoli campaign of the first world war the following deed took place for which he was awarded the vc .
on 21 august 1915 in the attack on hill 70 , potts -lrb- although wounded in the thigh -rrb- remained for over 48 hours under the turkish trenches with another private from his regiment who was severely wounded , and unable to move .
he finally fixed a shovel to the equipment of his wounded comrade and using this as a sledge , dragged the man back over 600 yards to safety , being under fire all the way .
potts was born and raised on edgehill street in the katesgrove area of reading .
after the war , during which he eventually achieved the rank of lance-corporal , he kept a tailor 's shop on the parallel alpine street .
potts died on 3 november 1943 at the age of 50 .
his grave is at reading crematorium , whilst his medals are held by the imperial war museum .
the man he saved at gallipoli was a fellow member of the berkshire yeomanry called arthur andrews who also came from reading .
andrews lived until 1980 , when he died at the age of 89 .
charles rex also survived until he was 87 .
in 2009 , as the result of the production of a bbc radio documentary on potts , a reunion occurred between the relatives of the two men at the imperial war museum .
during prime minister 's questions on 20 january 2010 , martin salter , member of parliament for reading west , indicated that there were plans to provide a permanent memorial to trooper potts .
it was announced in may 2014 that the memorial would be sited in forbury gardens .
trooper potts was commemorated in september 2013 in the name of a new road , trooper potts way , created during construction of the reading station north entrance .
