Leonard James Keyworth ["Tales of the V.C."], item 3

• January 18, 2018 04:03:41 Thomas A. Lingner

  supplies a long way; the defenders have them ready at their

  hands.

    But he soon solved that problem. He determined to stand on the parapet.

  That we would certainly be killed did not weigh with

  him at all. He could throw further - that was all that

  mattered. Down below he had had cover of a sort. Up there

  on the parapet he was an easy target for every German

  sniper and bomber within range.

    By some strange chance however he was not hit at all. He stood

  on that parapet for two whole hours, continuously throwing

  the bombs which his comrades passed up to him from below.

  In that time he threw nearly 200. That he was not

  killed is a wonderful thing; that he held out for so long

  without dropping from sheer physical exhaustion is almost

  more wonderful, as anyone who has bowled a cricket-ball

  through a long summer afternoon can well realise - and a

  bomb weighs a pound and a half, not five ounces!

    But there is a limit to human endurance. At last the

  time came when even he could do no more; and he

  staggered down from his place on the parapet.

    Afterwards, when he had partially recovered his strength, he

  made a gallant attempt to rescue one of his officers, who

  had been mortally wounded and was lying on the German

  parapet, but the dying officer waved him away when he

  approached, as the enemy's fire was so heavy that it

  would have been certain death to have tried to reach him.

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