Our WWI VC heroes

Eleven men in the New Zealand armed forces during World War I were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration, for valour in the face of the enemy. These are their stories.

Leslie Andrew 1917 — La BasseVille, Belgium

Leslie Andrew, born at Ashhurst near Palmerston North and educated there and in Whanganui, was just 20 when he committed the daring acts for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Or he was 22, if one believed the inflated age he had gone by. When he enlisted in 1915 his real age was 18. Twenty was the minimum, but what is regarded by historians as his lie didn’t hinder this former NZ Railways employee’s glittering military career.

On July 31, 1917, at the rank of corporal, Andrew led attacks that destroyed three enemy machinegun posts in quick succession during fighting at the village of La Basse-Ville in Belgium. Only one post, at an inn, had been the original objective; the others were at a railway line and in a trench.

Andrew displayed “cool daring, initiative, and fine leadership”, his medal citation states.

He also served in World War II, leading troops in the Mediterranean. He was made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order for his “outstanding skill and leadership” and retired in 1952 at the rank of brigadier.

He died in 1969 aged 71; or 73 — one of his death documents gives both birth dates.

Cyril Bassett 1915 — Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli

Cyril Bassett was awarded the Victoria Cross for laying telephone cables in acutely dangerous conditions on a Gallipoli hill, Chunuk Bair.

An Auckland bank clerk who began his military career in a volunteer rifles company in 1909, Bassett signed up as a fulltime soldier five days after New Zealand declared war in August 1914.

As a corporal and signaller a year later he was at the heart of the Allies’ attack on the Ottoman Empire at Gallipoli.

In the ferocious uphill battle for control of Chunuk Bair, considered by army chiefs to be a strategic high point, Bassett and colleagues laid a cable to the new forward position. And then they repaired it, again and again, after it was damaged — all under relentless heavy fire.

Famously he later made light of his gallantry, saying, “It was just that I was so short that the bullets passed over me.”

The New Zealanders were instrumental in taking the hill, but it was held only briefly by the Allies. More than 800 Kiwis died in the effort.

Bassett went on to fight on the Western Front and, before leaving the military in 1919 to return to banking, he was made a lieutenant. He was the only member of the New Zealand forces to be awarded the VC for action in Gallipoli.

Donald Brown 1916 — the Somme, France

When faced with the risk of being slaughtered on the Western Front, Sergeant Donald Brown’s response was one of selfless disregard for his own safety.

He showed “utter contempt for danger and coolness under fire”, according to the military chiefs who penned the citation for his VC award.

He never got to handle the shiny medal, however.

Two weeks after the first of the actions at the Somme in September 1916 which were among those honoured by the award the following year, the 26-year-old was killed by a machinegun bullet to the head.

His unit suffering heavy casualties, he and a comrade had twice advanced on enemy machineguns, silencing them by killing their crews.

Brown managed the feat a third time, single-handed, but was shot and died within 30 minutes.

“He was always in his element in No Man’s Land,” one of Brown’s officers wrote of him.

Another said he was an excellent chap and much liked by the men.

An Otago farmer, Brown had signed up in October 1915.

His VC medal was presented to his father by the Governor-General, the Earl of Liverpool.