Somme hero Scot’s VC to go for £280k
A VICTORIA Cross awarded to a Scots hero bugler for storming an enemy trench in the Battle of the Somme is going under the hammer for £280,000.
Drummer Walter Ritchie mounted the parapet of a trench carrying his bugle and sounded the “charge” .
He risked his life despite being peppered by bombs and machine-gun fire.
The 24-year-old Glaswegian rallied his comrades to renew their attack.
Dmr Ritchie acted on his own initiative but breached Army regulations by taking a musical instrument over the top into battle.
But he still received Britain’s highest bravery award for his “devotion to duty” on July 1, 1916 – the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, with almost 20,000 men killed.