Wilbur Taylor Dartnell

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Wilbur Taylor Dartnell VC (6 April 1885 – 3 September 1915) was an Australian 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 30 years old, and a T/Lieutenant in the 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 3 September 1915, near Maktau, Kenya, during a mounted infantry engagement, the enemy were so close that it was impossible to get the more severely wounded away. Lieutenant Dartnell, who was himself being carried away wounded in the leg, seeing the situation, and knowing that the enemy's black troops murdered the wounded, insisted on being left behind, in the hope of being able to save the lives of other wounded men. He gave his own life in a gallant attempt to save others.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial.

[edit] References

"Elegant Extracts" - The Royal Fusiliers Recipients of the VC (J.P. Kelleher, 2001)
Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)