David Twiston Davies's latest and highly entertaining collection of 100 Daily Telegraph military obituaries from the last fifteen years, include those celebrated for their great heroism and involv
David Twiston Davies's latest and highly entertaining collection of 100 Daily Telegraph military obituaries from the last fifteen years, include those celebrated for their great heroism and involvement in major operations. Others have extraordinary stories barely remembered by their families. Personalities who feature include the Canadian Sgt Smoky Smith who was locked up after winning the VC in Italy to ensure he would be sober at Buckingham Palace; Obergefreiter Henry Metellman, a Panzer driver brutally frank about his Eastern Front experiences, who later became a groundsman at Charterhouse School; Private Harry Patch, the last man to go 'over the top' in the First World War; Sgt Tiny Brice who rescued two wounded men under fire, pulling them to safety on a farm gate; Penny Phillips, an ambulance driver caught up in the retreat from France in 1940; Armedeo Guillet, an Italian officer who led the last cavalry charge against the British in 1941; Australian General Sir Frank Hassett who commanded a textbook operation in Korea; and Lt—Col David Garforth Bles who was pig sticking in India when a friend disappeared only to be found at the bottom of an enormous well accompanied by his horse with a pig trying to bite both of them.