Francis Alexander Caron Scrimger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Francis Alexander Caron Scrimger (February 10, 1880, Montreal - February 13, 1937), was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was 35 years old, and a captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Canadian Expeditionary Force, attached to 14th Battalion, (Royal Montreal Regiment), C.E.F. during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

During the Second Battle of Ypres on 25 April 1915 at St. Julien, Belgium, Captain Scrimger was in charge of an advanced dressing station in a farmhouse near Wiltje on the St. Julien-Ypres Road. The advancing enemy were bombarding the area with an intense shelling. The German infantry were within sight. Scrimger directed the removal of the wounded under the heavy fire. Captain Scrimger and a badly wounded Capter Macdonald were the last men left at the station. Scrimger carried the wounded officer out of the farmhouse to the road. The bombardment of shell forced Scrimger to stop and place Macdonald on the road. Scrimger then protected him with his own body. During a lull in the gunfire Scrimger again carried Macdonald toward help When he was unable to carry him any further, he remained with the wounded man until help could be obtained.

[edit] Location of VC

18 October 2005

"Victoria Cross finds a home at the War Museum CTV.ca News Staff

The Canadian War Museum has unveiled a new attraction -- the First World War Victoria Cross of Captain Francis Scrimger.

A Montreal native who studied medicine at McGill University before the war, Scrimger served with the Royal Montreal Regiment (14th Battalion) during the Second Battle of Ypres.

Scrimger was the first medical officer to receive the British Commonwealth's highest military decoration for bravery and gallantry, after he conducted the evacuation of a medical station in what is believed to have been the first use of poisonous gas in battle.

In April 1915, When German forces unleashed the deadly chlorine gas on Allied forces in Belgium, Scrimger instructed the men in his battalion to breathe through moistened handkerchiefs.

Because the gas was water-soluble, his advice was credited with saving many lives.

Days later, when the farm building where the wounded were being treated came under heavy fire, Scrimger led the evacuation. Before it was over, he carried a severely wounded officer away from the facility. And when he couldn't carry the injured officer any further, he waited with him until help arrived.

Scrimger was not only awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery, he also had a mountain near the Kootenays named in his honour.

On Monday, Scrimger's descendants donated his rare medal -- alongside two other medals he received -- to the War Museum in Ottawa.

According to Scrimger's grandson, Dr. John Wooton, selling the medals to a collector was never an option.

"I don't think it would be acceptable in our family to take financial reward from anything of great historical importance," Wooten told CTV News.

Only 94 Canadians have ever been honoured with the Victoria Cross."

[edit] References

Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
VCs of the First World War - The Western Front 1915 (Peter F. Batchelor & Christopher Matson, 1999)
"On the Battlefields", From the archives of "Maclean's Magazine", Edited by Michael Benedict, Penguin Canada, 2002 ISBN 0-14-301341-6, page 100