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