Bernard Matthew Cassidy
Bernard Matthew Cassidy | |
---|---|
Born | 17 August 1892 London, England |
Died | 28 March 1918 (aged 25) Arras, France |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Rank | Second Lieutenant |
Unit | The Lancashire Fusiliers |
Battles/wars | World War I † |
Awards | Victoria Cross |
Bernard Matthew Cassidy VC (17 August 1892 – 28 March 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.
Details
Cassidy was 25 years old, and a second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War at the German spring offensive when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 28 March 1918 at Arras, France, at a time when the flank of the division was in danger, Second Lieutenant Cassidy was in command of the left company of his battalion. He had been given orders to hold on to the position at all costs and he carried out this instruction to the letter. Although the enemy came in overwhelming numbers he continued to rally and encourage his men, under terrific bombardment until the company was eventually surrounded and he was killed.[1]
Cassidy has no known grave, but is remembered on the Arras Memorial.[2] He has a street named after him in Canning Town in London called Bernard Cassidy Street. His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.[3]
References
- ^ "No. 30667". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 April 1918. p. 5354.
- ^ CWGC entry
- ^ Newham History Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Gliddon, Gerald (2013) [2004]. Spring Offensive 1918. VCs of the First World War. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-8730-4.
External links
- Bernard Matthew Cassidy at Find a Grave
- v
- t
- e
- Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (1674–1968)
- Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1685–1968)
- Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) (1685–1968)
- Lancashire Fusiliers (1688–1968)
- James Bulmer Johnson
- Patrick McHale
- Peter McManus
- Ernest Sykes
- Thomas Bryan
- Robert Henry Cain
- James Jackman
- Wilfred Wood
- Jack Youll
- William Amey
- Robert Edwin Phillips
- Arthur Vickers
- Julian Royds Gribble
- Arthur Hutt
- Edward Elers Delaval Henderson
- Thomas Elsdon Ashford
- Maurice Dease
- Neville Elliott-Cooper
- Charles FitzClarence
- Thomas Egerton Hale
- William Hope
- Mathew Hughes
- Henry Mitchell Jones
- Robert Gee
- Sidney Godley
- George Jarratt
- John Molyneux
- William Norman
- Frederick William Palmer
- Samuel Pearse
- Charles Graham Robertson
- Walter Napleton Stone
- Arthur Sullivan
- Cuthbert Bromley
- Frank Edward Stubbs
- John Grimshaw
- Richard Raymond Willis
- Alfred Joseph Richards
- William Stephen Kenealy
- John Lynn
- James Hutchinson
- Bertram Best-Dunkley
- Joseph Lister
- Bernard Matthew Cassidy
- John Schofield
- Joel Halliwell
- Edward Benn Smith
- Harold John Colley
- Frank Lester
- James Clarke
- James Neville Marshall
- Francis Arthur Jefferson