serviceyears branch death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
1868 -- 1897 british army 1 november 1897 hatch beauchamp , somerset , england plymouth , devon , england united kingdom corps of royal engineers victoria cross '' ` anglo-zulu war '' ' 21 december 1847 colonel john rouse merriott chard.png john chard
 colonel john rouse merriott chard vc
john chard

colonel john rouse merriott chard -lrb- 21 december 1847 -- 1 november 1897 -rrb- was a british army officer who received the victoria cross , the highest military decoration for valour `` in the face of the enemy '' that can be awarded to members of the british armed forces .
he earned the decoration for his role in the defence of rorke 's drift in january 1879 where he commanded a small british garrison of 139 soldiers that successfully repulsed an assault by some 3,000 to 4,000 zulu warriors .
the battle was recreated in the film `` zulu '' in which chard was portrayed by stanley baker .
born near plymouth , chard attended the royal military academy in woolwich and was commissioned into the royal engineers in july 1868 .
he was involved with the construction of naval fortifications in bermuda and malta before he was deployed to southern africa at the start of the anglo-zulu war .
at the end of the war he returned to a hero 's welcome in england and was invited to an audience with queen victoria .
after a series of overseas postings he took up his final position in perth , scotland .
he retired from the army as a colonel in 1897 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died at his brother 's home in somerset later that year .
