Joseph Henry Collin
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Joseph Henry Collin VC (April 10, 1893- April 9, 1918) 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.
He was 24 years old, and a Second Lieutenant in the 1/4th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 9 April 1918 at Givenchy, France, after offering a gallant resistance against heavy odds in the Keep held by his platoon, Second Lieutenant Collin, with only five of his men remaining, slowly withdrew, contesting every inch of ground. Single-handed, he then attacked a machine-gun - after firing his revolver into the enemy, he seized a Mills grenade and threw it into the hostile gun team, putting the gun out of action, killing four of the team and wounding two others. He then took a Lewis gun and engaged a second hostile machine-gun, keeping the enemy at bay until he was mortally wounded.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at The King's Own Royal (Lancaster) Regiment Museum, Lancaster, England.
[edit] References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - Spring Offensive 1918 (Gerald Gliddon, 1997)
