THE VICTORIA CROSS
The Victoria Cross was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856, as a means of rewarding an officer or man of the Army or Navy who might perform 'some signal act of valour or devotion to his country in the presence of the enemy'.

Signal is the correct term, meaning significant at that point in time.

There are currently (Nov 05) 1352 VCs on the Register of the Victoria Cross (This England Books,1997).
The actual number of VCs awarded is 1354, 3 men having won it twice and one to the American Unknown Soldier.

During WW2 members of the British armed forces were awarded 106 Victoria Crosses.

SGT ARTHUR SAUNDERS VC, THE SUFFOLK REGT
In Jun 05 the Webmaster received an e-mail from David Sandham, researching his wife's relative Arthur Saunders.
It led to receipt of the text and photographs on this page.
Born on 23 Apr 1878 in St John’s parish, Ipswich, Suffolk, Arthur served in the Royal Navy 1894-1909, becoming a 1st Class Petty Officer.
In 1914 he enlisted in the Army when war was declared, joining the 9th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant within a month.
For conspicuous bravery near Loos, France, 26 Sep 1915 he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
He was also awarded The 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and, on discharge, the Silver Wound Badge No. 72823 due to being wounded when winning his VC.
In WW2 he was an RQMS (Regimental Quartermaster Sgt) in the Home Guard.
Arthur died on 30 Jul 1947 at Ipswich, aged 69.
His VC was presented by his widow to the Suffolk Regimental Museum, Bury St Edmunds.

Click photographs to enlarge

The card in his memorial display case, maintained by David Sandham
The picture above left is from the Gallaher cigarette card sets of VCs and on the right, from the Ipswich Star.
Top right photograph is from the Suffolk Regiment History

9TH (SERVICE) BATTALION
Formed at Bury St. Edmunds, Sep 1914, as part of K3. Sep 1914 : attached to 71st Brigade, 24th Division. 11 Oct 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 6th Division. 16 Feb 1918 : disbanded in France.
The 9th Bn left for France on 30 Aug, 1915. On 22 Sep they reached Ham-en-Artois. They then moved on to Bethune. By the time they arrived on the morning of 25 Sep, the Bn had marched for four nights in succession, covering a distance of 70 miles. The night marches, frequently in rain, had left the men exhausted.
Despite this the Bn moved off to the front line at noon. At 8 pm the advance began. The 9th Suffolk's Bn were in the front line of the attack launched by the 24th Division. During the attack the Bn suffered 135 casualties.

THE SITUATION NEAR LOOS, FRANCE, SEP 1915
Due to a shortage of seasoned troops and the great extent of line on which British troops would be operating during the Battle of Loos, Sir John French decided to retain a strong general reserve to meet any emergency arising from the battle. The 21st and 24th (New Army) Divisions, both untried units, were put into the reserve. Unfortunately, they were kept too far back. When the situation on 25 September became apparent, HQ formed a plan for both divisions to attack between Hill 70 and the village of Hulluch. The plan was not changed despite the crucial fact that the 15th Div had failed to capture Hill 70 and Hulluch was still in German hands.

The 71st Brigade, 24th Div, of which the 9th (Service) Bn, Suffolk Regt, was a part, arrived at Bethune at about 0100 hours on 25 Sep. The 9th Suffolks were exhausted following a succession of night marches intended to bring the brigade (and the division as a whole) closer to Loos to support the action. They were promised 48 hours to recuperate but in the event they were ordered to be ready to move forward by 0700 hours; in fact it was 1130 hours before they set off for the battle line. The 24th Div was to act as support to the 9th (Scottish) Div, the 9th Suffolks and 11th Essex forming the first line.

At about 2000 hours the 9th Suffolks wended their way across the Loos battlefield, being held up at about midnight when they dug in with the German second (support) line behind them. At 0500 hours on 26 September they were ordered back to the German support trenches behind them. The 2lst and 24th Divs were to attack again at 1100 hours. The 72nd Mc was to deliver the assault with the 11th Essex (on the left) and the 9th Suffolks (on the right) as brigade support, 600 yards to the rear. This order was not received until 1.1.25 hours and as it was passed down the line the 9th Suffolks were ordered forward immediately, moving ahead under heavy artillery fire towards the previous night’s objective. The advance was maintained until about 200 yards beyond the Hulluch - Lens road where it was finally checked. At 1700 hours the right flank began to give way but for three hours the centre held, during which time the flanks advanced and retired twice. The left flank then came under intense machine-gun fire from the direction of Hulluch, forcing it back and causing the greatest losses of the day for the 9th Suffolks. The Suffolks were relieved in the early hours of 27 Sep.

No. 3/10133 Sgt AF Saunders had distinguished himself the previous day when his officer had been wounded, and Saunders unhesitatingly took command of two machine-guns and a handful of men and, although severely wounded himself, closely followed the last four charges of another battalion (6th Cameron Highlanders) and provided every possible support. As the remnants of the battalion were forced to withdraw he continued to fire one of the guns and, as the citation said, ‘continued to give clear orders, and by continuous firing did his best to cover the retirement’. Saunders himself never expanded upon the deed that earned him the VC, but many years later details emerged from memoirs written by Gen Sir Philip Christison who had been a 2Lt in the 6th Cameron Highlanders at the Battle of Loos and was with Saunders during his deed of gallantry. 2Lt Christison was lying wounded in a shell-hole when the 9th Suffolks passed through his position. Things seemed to be going well at first but then, to his horror, the Suffolks and their flanking troops doubled back under fire, leaving him isolated. Christison takes up the story:

‘But one stout fellow, Sgt AF Saunders, refused to retire. He had a Lewis Gun he had picked up with a full drum on it. He crawled over to me and said he’d stay and fight. He made to crawl over to the next shell-hole and, as he did so, a shell landed and blew part of his left leg off about the knee. I crawled over and got him into the shell-hole, putting a tourniquet on his leg and giving him my water bottle as his was empty. I crawled back to my hole and a few minutes later saw a fresh wave of German troops advancing. There seemed to be no point in opening fire as there were, perhaps, 150 enemy advancing rather diagonally across our front. To my amazement, I heard short sharp bursts of Lewis Gun fire coming from the shell-hole on my right; this was Sgt Saunders, more or less minus a leg. The Germans were taken by surprise and bunched, so I joined in and between us we took a heavy toll and the rest retired out of sight. I took down Sgt Saunders’ number, name and regiment. Stretcher-bearer parties from the RE got me and Sgt Saunders on stretchers but shells dropped close and we were abandoned. We were lucky as a stretcher-bearer party from the Scots Guards picked us up and got us to an Advanced Dressing Station, where emergency surgery was carried out. Sgt Saunders, now without a leg, was awarded the VC, while I was given the MC. He and I correspond regularly.’

Arthur Frederick Saunders was born on 23 April 1878 in St John’s parish, Ipswich, Suffolk. His father worked for Mr Henry Finn, a harness-maker, in Ipswich for forty-five years. Arthur Saunders attended the California School an at the age of 15 years and 9 months joined the Navy at Shotley Naval Barracks. He trained for the Merchant Navy on HMS Warspite, the Marine Society Training Ship, but later joined the Royal Navy, becoming a 1st Class Petty Officer and serving for fifteen years. After leaving the Navy he took up engineering and was employed at Ransomes, Sims & Jeffries in lpswich. He enlisted in the Army when war was declared, joining the 9th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant within a month. After winning the VC at Loos, the first for the Suffolk Regt in the war, he was given a public welcome home on 22 June 1916, reaching Ipswich Town Hall via ‘gaily decorated streets and cheering . . . and flag-waving’ to be met by the Mayor and Corporation, many Suffolk Regt officers and Lt Col Bretell, who commanded the 9th Suffolks at Loos. The band of the 3rd Suffolks was also present. Saunders was entertained to tea in the Town Hall and was later presented with a sum of £365, which had been subscribed by the residents of Ipswich and district and the Suffolk Regt ‘in recognition of his bravery’. He was then accompanied to his home in Cauldwell Hall Road, Ipswich, by the drum band of the 2/1st London Regt (Royal Fusiliers).

Saunders had been in hospital at ‘Beaulieu’, Harrogate, on 10 May 1916, prior to returning home and he was back in hospital at Harrogate in Jul, apparently not having fully recovered from his wounds. It appears that at some point Saunders used his cash gift to purchase a new home, 354 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, where he and his wife Edith lived for the rest of their lives.

In April 1920 he was made an honorary Freeman of the Borough and later, on 26 June, he attended the VC garden party at Buckingham Palace. Saunders was one of the Guard of Honour for Field Marshal Lord Allenby on 6 Oct the same year when he received the Freedom of the Borough of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Saunders gained further honours in Jan 1923, becoming a JP for Ipswich. The Prince of Wales visited HMS Warspite at Greenhithe in Jul that year where he met Saunders who was present as an ‘old boy’. He attended the British Legion dinner for VCs at the House of Lords on 9 Nov 1929 and was present at several reunion dinners of the 9th Suffolks which were held at Bury St Edmunds; they had been instigated in 1926 and took place every two years. When the Prince of Wales visited Ipswich for the Royal Show on 4 Jul 1934, Saunders was one of the Guard of Honour made up of members of the British Legion and the Old Contemptibles. From 1940 to 1944 he served as an RQMS in the Home Guard.

He died on 30 July 1947, aged 69 years and 3 months, having never really recovered from his wounds received in 1915. He was cremated on 5 Aug 1947 and his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Rest in the Old Cemetery, Ipswich. His name appears on a panel in the Temple of Remembrance there, in Room D, Panel 64. He left a widow, a daughter and two sons, both of whom were Mentioned in Despatches during the Second World War. In 1989 his widow, Mrs Edith Saunders, who was 99 on 11 Feb that year presented her late husband’s VC to the Suffolk Regiment on her birthday. The ceremony took place at Howard House Retirement Home, Brig Bill Deller receiving the medal on behalf of the Regiment in the presence of the Saunders’ family and friends.

Col Paul Denny, County Commandant of Suffolk Army Cadet Force, sent:
'The figure 3 before his regimental number 3/10133 indicates he was a pre 1914 soldier in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Bn - 6 months full time training on enlistment, then 1 month refresher trg annually.'

For much more, see http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ipswichvc/

References:

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997). Detailed action account plus campaign context.
• Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999). Provides an accurate record of every known grave and memorial.
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England Books, 1997).
• The Victoria Cross Reference at www.chapter-one.com/vc/default.asp features all the VCs won since the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856, maintained by Mike Chapman mikec@chapter-one.com
• VC Research www.victoriacross.co.uk maintained by the late Alfred J Askin, now continued by his grandson Rhys Adams research@victoriacross.co.uk

• ‘More Men whose fathers were men - their medals and their message’ published in the 1950s, written under the pseudonym ‘Centurion’.