TheVC hero turned down because of a ‘weak heart’ Fearless act of doomed sailor remembered by town to this day
MORTALLY wounded in the abdomen and his stomach laid bare, he still went on serving his gun...”
They are the harrowing words on the citation of Walsall’s only Great War Victoria Cross recipient.
Yet the highest award for gallantry given to John Carless nearly never happened – as the army had originally sent him packing because of a ‘weak heart’.
Instead the Royal Navy saw sense and took on this unassuming hero who lost his life when HMS Caledon came under fire while chasing German minesweepers escorted by light cruisers.
Aged just 21, he manned one of the ship’s guns despite terrible injuries.
A personal report from Commodore Walter Crown, written on November 21, 1917, detailed Carless’s unbelievable bravery.
It states: “John Henry Carless, Rammer number of No.2 gun. Although mortally wounded in the abdomen, and his stomach laid bare, he still went on serving his gun, lifting the projectile and helping to clear away the other casualties.
“He collapsed once but again got up, tried again and cheered on the new crew, he then fell again and died.
“My feeling is, if the Vice-Admiral agrees, that his memory is worthy of the Victoria Cross, as he not only showed a very bright and memorable example but he also, whilst mortally wounded, continued to do effective work against the King’s enemies.”
A century on, historians Richard Pursehouse and Lee Dent – a leading light in Great War historical group The Chase Project – have gathered new details on the life of the Black Country hero.
Carless, the son of iron foundry worker John and Elizabeth, lived in Tasker Street, Walsall.
The couple also had two daughters, Ada and Dora, who both worked in the leather industry.
At St Mary the Mount, he excelled at sport and played in the final of the English Schools Football Shield, staged at Sunderland’s ground, Roker Park.
Carless – a strapping, 6ft 2in specimen in adulthood, was also a fine swimmer.
Yet he was turned down by the army four times because of a weak heart before joining the Royal Navy on September 1, 1915. At the time he joined up, Carless worked as an errand boy for harness manufacturer Messrs Price and Co.
He showed courage from the off, on one occasion volunteering to help save passengers on a damaged hospital ship.
He also rescued a burning bolier room.
Carless would pay a heavy price for that brand of daring. Within a week of his 21st birthday, he was dead.
During the second battle of Heligoland Bight, Carless’s ship, HMS Caledon, led the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron which was attempting to cut off and destroy German minesweepers.
At 7.30am, Caledon spotted four German light cruisers accompanied by destroyers.
At 9.55am two German battleship, Kaiser and Kaiserin, joined the action and the enemy vessels retreated behind a thick smokescreen.
Caledon felt the full fury of the two stoker from a battleships’ guns. It was hit twice, the first shell killing two signalmen and two at the gun where Carless was stationed.
The second punctured the starboard side of Caledon, just above the waterline.
As well as the four immediate fatalities, one crew member later died of his injuries, 10 were seriously wounded and seven slightly wounded. The battle also claimed the lives of seven crew members on HMS Cardiff and 10 on HMS Calypso.
Caledon’s log for November 18 stated: “Buried at sea the following men, killed in action with German Light Cruisers, in the Heligoland Bight AB H.C. Ferris, OS B.J. Gwinnett, OS J.H. Carless, Sig Boy McKenzie, Signalman H. Turner.
Following Carless’s death, H.S. Harrison-Wallace, commander of HMS Caledon, wrote to the Black Country man’s parents, outlining his heroics .
He said: “He was a most gallant lad and very promising. We feel his loss on the ship very much and all send their sincere sympathy to you and his family in his loss.
“You will be very proud to have the satisfaction of knowing that he did his duty so bravely and gallantly, fighting his King and country’s enemy – the finest death a man can have. I buried him at sea and he had a very impressive funeral, attended by all his shipmates and the commander.” Two shipmates from Walsall, Stoker Waterford and Leonard Wales, also wrote to the parents, Waterford commented: “He was a noble lad, worthy of a hundred VCs, for he feared nothing and he stood at his post of duty with ramrod in hand. He laughed the whole time and died smiling. He was a son to be proud of.” When next on leave Waterford visited the family. On Sunday, May 26, 1918, a memorial service for the seaman was held at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Walsall. In his address, Archbishop McIntyre described Carless as “nobody’s hero, yet a hero to everybody”. He added: “He might not have been distinguishable from his shipmates, his life might have been an ordinary seaman’s life, a life like that of thousands of others in the Royal Navy. “But the opportunity came to him,