Godfrey Meynell
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Godfrey Meynell VC MC (30 May 1904 -29 September 1935) was an English 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.
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Captain Godfrey Meynell VC MC was 31 years old, and a captain in Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, Indian Army during the Mohmand Campaign, India (2nd). His Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously and given to his widow Sophia Patricia (Jill) Meynell at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in July 1936. Captain Meynell and his wife were both speakers of Urdu. He had passed out 13th at Sandhurst before volunteering for the Indian Army.
On 29 September 1935 at Mohmand, in the Nahaqi Pass within the Kyber Pass on the North West Frontier, India(now Pakistan), in the final phase of an attack, Captain Meynell, seeking information on the most forward troops, found them involved in a struggle against an enemy vastly superior in numbers. He at once took command and with two Lewis guns and about 30 men maintained a heavy and accurate fire on the advancing enemy, but their overwhelming numbers nevertheless succeeded in reaching the position and putting the Lewis gun out of action. In the hand-to-hand struggle which ensued, Captain Meynell was mortally wounded, but the heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy prevented them from exploiting their success.
Regimental records suggest that when the bodies of his men were mutilated by the enemy (as is the custom) he sought to defend those bodies even as he himself was dying.
His body is laid to rest at the Guides Chapel in Mardan, near Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan where he and his wife were married.
"I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the blessing of my love:
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice."
