ADRIAN CARTON DE WIART
“HE DISPLAYED THE UTMOST ENERGY AND COURAGE IN FORCING OUR ATTACK HOME. AFTER THREE OTHER BATTALION COMMANDERS HAD BECOME CASUALTIES, HE CONTROLLED THEIR COMMANDS AND ENSURED THAT THE GROUND WON WAS MAINTAINED AT ALL COSTS.HE FREQUENTLY EXPOSED HIMSELF IN THE ORGANISATION OF POSITIONS AND OF SUPPLIES, PASSING UNFLINCHINGLY THROUGH FIRE BARRAGE OF THE MOST INTENSE NATURE. HIS GALLANTRY WAS INSPIRING TO ALL”
VC citation
“FRANKLY, I HAD ENJOYED THE WAR; IT HAD GIVEN ME MANY BAD MOMENTS, LOTS OF GOOD ONES, PLENTY OF EXCITEMENT…”
Adrian Carton de Wiart
When speaking of Sir Garnet Wolseley, Dr. Joseph H. Lehmann observed that the British general “believed the best possible way to get ahead in the army was to try to get killed every time he had a chance.” Wolseley had plenty of scars, medals and honours to show for it. Another soldier in the British Army, Adrian Carton de Wiart, lived by Wolseley’s maxim. The transplanted Belgian-British army officer possessed a strange combination of a fiery temper, sense of humour in the darkest times, humility and an obsession to “justify his existence” through reckless heroism. His
