Three South African Victoria Crosses won on the Western front.
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Private
William Frederick
FAULDS, V.C.
(1895-1950)
1stSouth African Infantry Regiment
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Delville Wood - 18/20
July 1916.
A bombing party came under very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire
and the majority were killed or wounded, including the lieutenant in charge,
who lay unable to move midway between the two lines of trench. In full daylight
Private Faulds, accompanied by two other men, climbed over the parapet, ran
out, picked up the officer and carried him back. Two days later private Faulds
went out alone, under intense artillery fire, and brought in a wounded man and
then rejoined his platoon.
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Lance Corporal
William Henry HEWITT, V.C.
(1884-1966)
2nd South
African Infantry Regiment
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Ypres - 20th September 1917
Lance Corporal Hewitt attacked a pill box with
his section and tried to rush the doorway. The garrison, however, proved very
stubborn and in the attempt the lance-corporal received a severe wound.
Nevertheless he proceeded to the loophole of the pill box where, in his attemps
to put a bomb in it, he was again wounded in the arm. Undeterred, he finally
managed to get the bomb inside where it dislodged the occupants and they were
successfully dealt with by the rest of the section.
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Lieutenant-Colonel
John SHERWOOD-KELLY, V.C.
(1880-1931)
 
Norfolk Regiment, C.O. of the 1st
Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusilier
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Marcoing - 20th November 1917
When a party of men were held up on the near
side of a canal by heavy rifle fire, Lieutenant Colonel Sherwood-Kelly at once
ordered covering fire, personally led his leading company across the canal and
then reconnoitred, under heavy fire, the high ground held by the enemy. He took
a Lewis gun team, forced his way through the obstacles and covered the advance
of his battalion, enabling them to capture the position. Later he led a charge
against some pits from which heavy fire was coming, capturing 5 machine-guns
and 46 prisoners.
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