Danish Hero
As a Danish national, the award of a VC during the First World War to Thomas Dinesen was unusual.
Thomas Fasti Dinesen was born in Rungsted, near Copenhagen, on 9 August 1892. He was the son of Captain Adolph Dinesen and Ingeborg (née Westenholz). Thomas came from a wealthy, aristocratic, military family and his grandfather, as well as his father, served as an officer in the Danish Army.
His sister was Izak Dinesen (later Baroness Karen Blixen), the author of Out of Africa (in the film of the same name she is played by Meryl Streep) and other works.
Before the war, he worked as an engineer and in 1914 became a member of the Academic Rifle Corps where he established himself as a first-class shot. After the outbreak of war in August 1914, he tried to join the French and British armies, but they would only accept their own nationals. In his book about his wartime experiences,
Merry Hell! A Dane with the Canadians, Dinesen wrote:
“But from the very first day of August [1914] I knew that, sooner or later, I should have to leave everything and go in search of the real war. There was – in my set, anyhow – a firm conviction [that] the future of humanity, the continuance of civilization, the salvation of the world, depended on the subjugation of Germany.”
In April 1917, with Denmark still neutral and Dinesen desperate to fight the Germans, he sailed to America where once again he was unable to enlist in US Forces. He finally succeeded in acceptance for military service when he went to the New York recruiting office of the Canadian Army in June 1917.
Dinesen enlisted as a private in the Royal Highlanders of Canada and three months later was posted to the UK where he underwent training in
Hampshire. In March 1918, Dinesen travelled to France with his battalion where he volunteered for trench raids, but initially took part in no major battles. During their early days on the frontline, Dinesen and his comrades were subjected to gas and shell attacks. In Merry Hell! he wrote:
“Hizzz-Crash!! The shells are bursting both in front and behind our hidingplace; the very ground is trembling and we too tremble. Our hair is standing on end – but – are we scared? Are we down- hearted? No!!”
In May 1918, during a spell behind the frontline, Dinesen was chosen to take part in a NCO training course until he returned to the frontline in early July. At times, he bemoaned his lowly rank, writing:
“I wish I were an officer and could get a chance to follow events! A private soldier is moved about like a tethered cow.”
In his book, Dinesen related how he had been told by an officer that the 42nd Battalion’s objective was the town of Parvillers. Dinesen wrote modestly about his own part in the fighting and his VC action, but described some of what happened:
“I turn a corner quickly – two grey Germans stand straight in front of me ... Two red flashes straight into my face – done for already! – but they haven’t hit me, so now it’s my turn. A snap-shot at one of the two, and the other disappears around a corner. The road is free! ‘Come on boys, give them hell!’”
Dinesen was awarded the VC for courage during the Battle of Amiens on 12 August 1918, three days after his 26th birthday, his citation announced in the London Gazette on 26 October 1918.
On 21 August, during more heavy fighting, Dinesen displayed further bravery that led to the award of the French Croix de Guerre. His other decorations included the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog from the King of Denmark. Dinesen was promoted acting corporal in August 1918 and then spent a month at an officers’ school. On 5 November, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and, six days later, when the war ended, he was based at Mons, Belgium.
Dinesen received his VC from George V at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 13 December 1918. He was de-mobbed in January 1919, still with the rank of lieutenant. Dinesen wrote:
“We won the war ... I got off without a scratch, with all my aspirations and dreams fulfilled. And they rewarded me, into the bargain!”
From 1920 to 1925, Dinesen lived in Kenya, working as a farmer and civil engineer. In the aftermath of the war, he helped his sister manage her coffee farm in the Ngong hills, south-west of Nairobi, and from 1925 onwards, having returned to live in Denmark, Dinesen farmed in Jutland.
He married Joanna Lindhardt, daughter of the Lutheran Dean of Arhus, Denmark, in 1926 and the couple went on to have two daughters. Dinesen was also an enthusiastic author and penned several books, including a biography of his famous sister.
Dinesen died in Leerbaek, Denmark, on 10 March 1979, aged 86. He is buried in the family plot at Horsholm Cemetery, Rungsted, near Copenhagen.