

That was in 1901 and he was still serving with the Leicestershire Regiment when the Great War erupted. This event ceased to be part of the Olympic programme in 1948.Īt the age of 15, William Buckingham left the children’s home in which he had been brought up to join the army. This involved teams of marksmen trying to hit a moving target from a distance of 100m. They struck gold in a shooting event entitled ‘Men’s 100 metres team running deer, double shots’. Neame continued in the army and was part of their pistol shooting team that represented Britain in the 1924 Olympics.
#Enemy front trophy guide plus#
(Distinguished Service Order) plus a Croix de Guerre from both Belgium and France. As well as the V.C., he was awarded the D.S.O. During the night of 18th / 19th December, Neame fought off a German attack using improvised bombs (grenades) before rescuing a wounded comrade. These games were featured in the blockbuster ‘Chariots of Fire’ that won the ‘best picture’ Oscar in 1982. In a unique double achievement, Philip Neame was awarded a Victoria Cross in 1914 and 10 years later won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. His family was part of Britain’s largest brewing firm – Shepheard-Neame.

At the age of 49 he died and the following year his Victoria Cross was on sale in a pawnbrokers shop. When he sought work as a miner he was resented by others who reckoned that he was given preferential treatment by the bosses. did not help his prospects of employment. In 1917, Dobson was discharged from the army on medical grounds and sadly found that his V.C. He proposed a lesser award of a DCM but was overruled by the King.

General Haig did not consider this act worthy of a Victoria Cross commenting, ‘I am not in favour of this coveted award being created for bringing in wounded officers or men’. Under fire, he dressed the soldier’s wounds before crawling back to get both help and a stretcher. He found one dead and the other badly wounded. When only one man returned from a patrol of enemy positions, Dobson volunteered to go out and look for the other two.

On 28th September 1914, Private Frederick Dobson of the Coldstream Guards exhibited such bravery on the Aisne that he was awarded a Victoria Cross.
