March 7th Horace Augustus Curtis VC (Birth)

Horace Augustus Curtis VC (1891 – 1968) was born on this day in 1891 in St. Anthony-in-Roseland (July 26th).  

Enlisting as soon as war broke out in August 1914, Curtis joined The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at Bodmin but was almost immediately transferred to the 7th  Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers due to the lack of Irish volunteers signing up.

Curtis’ division embarked for Gallipoli from Devonport on 11th July 1915, landing on Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 7th August 1915. 

At Gallipoli, three quarters of his division was either killed or wounded but Curtis survived unscathed and was posted to Salonica and then to Palestine (1917) before returning to Egypt in order to support French forces. 

After home leave, his first in four years, Curtis fought on the Western Front at The Battle of Le Cateau in an action that led to the award of his Victoria Cross for, according to his citation:- ‘When in attack his platoon came unexpectedly under intense machine-gun fire. Realising that the attack would fail unless the enemy guns were silenced, Sgt Curtis, without hesitation, rushed forward through our own barrage and the enemy fire and killed and wounded the teams of two of the guns, whereupon the remaining four guns surrendered. Then turning his attention to a train-load of reinforcements, he succeeded in capturing over 100 enemy before his comrades joined him. His valour and disregard of danger inspired all.

 




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