£300k sale of ‘bravest’ war hero VC

A VICTORIA Cross awarded to one of Britain’s bravest soldiers during the First World War sold for £300,000 yesterday.

Lt Col Bertram Bestdunkley, of the 2/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, was given the award posthumously for leading an attack at the Battle of Passchendaele in July 1917.

A survivor of the Somme and mustard gas in Ypres, he had learned just days before that his son he never met had been born.

The 27-year-old died from shelling by British comrades that fell short.

The medal was sold at hammer price in London at Spink & Son.