The First Vcs: The Moving True Story Of First World War Heroes: Maurice Dease And Sidney Godley
by Mark Ryan /
2014 / English / EPUB
3.8 MB Download
What would you do if you were struck by an enemy bullet in wartime,
then realized you were still alive? For most of us, that would be
the end of our fight. If we were capable of thought while we tried
to cope with the pain, we’d probably hope to be rushed to hospital,
so that someone could save our lives. But a hundred years ago, in
the opening battle of World War I at Mons, two young men
didn’t react like that. Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Sidney
Godley, born only weeks apart into sharply contrasting worlds,
shared the same defiance. They didn’t think of themselves and went
back for more, sustaining dreadful wounds in the process. One man
died, the other lived—pieced back together painstakingly by the
Germans, who had taken so many casualties of their own while
overrunning the British position. Together Dease and Godley became
the first winners of the Victoria Cross in World War I.
What would you do if you were struck by an enemy bullet in wartime,
then realized you were still alive? For most of us, that would be
the end of our fight. If we were capable of thought while we tried
to cope with the pain, we’d probably hope to be rushed to hospital,
so that someone could save our lives. But a hundred years ago, in
the opening battle of World War I at Mons, two young men
didn’t react like that. Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Sidney
Godley, born only weeks apart into sharply contrasting worlds,
shared the same defiance. They didn’t think of themselves and went
back for more, sustaining dreadful wounds in the process. One man
died, the other lived—pieced back together painstakingly by the
Germans, who had taken so many casualties of their own while
overrunning the British position. Together Dease and Godley became
the first winners of the Victoria Cross in World War I.