2017 Battlefield Tour Page 08

At Brandhoek we visited the grave of Capt Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC & Bar, MC, MID, arguably the bravest soldier of WW1 although he never fired a shot in anger.

He is one of only three people to have won 2 Victoria Crosses, the other recipients won theirs in the Boer War and WW2. His headstone is the only one in the world to be inscribed with two VC’s.

Noel was born in Oxford in 1884 when he was aged 15 his father became Bishop of Liverpool and the family moved to the Bishops residence in Abercromby Square in Liverpool.

Whilst at Oxford University studying medicine, Noel along with his twin brother Christopher represented England at the 400 metres at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

At the start of the war in 1914, he joined the RAMC and was attached as medical officer to a Territorial unit, 1/10 Bn Kings Regt, the famous Liverpool Scottish. He won the Military Cross at Hooge in Belgium in June 1915 and later that year was mentioned in Despatches.

He won his first VC on 9 Aug 1916 at Guillemont on the Somme in France. During an attack, he tended the wounded in the open all day, under heavy fire, frequently in view of the enemy. During the ensuing night, he searched for wounded on the ground in front of the enemy's lines for four hours. Next day he took one stretcher-bearer to the advanced trenches, and under heavy shell fire carried an urgent case for 500 yards into safety, being wounded in the side by a shell splinter during the journey. The same night he took up a party of twenty volunteers, rescued three wounded men from a shell hole twenty-five yards from the enemy's trench, buried the bodies of two officers, and although under fire from bombs and machine guns, collected many identity discs from the dead.

He won his second VC between 31 July and 2 Aug 1917 at Weiltje, Belgium at the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele. Though severely wounded in the head early in the action whilst carrying a wounded soldier to the Dressing Station, he refused to leave his post, and for two days not only continued to perform his duties, but in addition went out repeatedly under heavy fire to search for and attend to the wounded who were lying out in no mans land.

During these searches, although practically without food during this period, worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, he assisted to carry in a number of badly wounded men, over heavy and difficult ground back to safety.

Capt. Chavasse subsequently died of his wounds at 32 Casualty Clearing Station at Brandhoek, Flanders aged 32 and is buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery. Grave No. III.B.15…..PK laid a poppy cross in remembrance...RIP