Australian Victoria Cross Recipient
Temporary Lieutenant William Thomas Dartnell (alias Wilbur Taylor Dartnell)
Unit
25th (Service), Battalion (Frontiersmen), the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Born
6 April 1885 at Collingwood, Melbourne
Date of action
3 September 1915
Place
Near Maktau, British East Africa (now Kenya)
Details
During an ambush Dartnell was wounded in the leg and was being carried away when he realised that the badly wounded could not be removed. Believing that the enemy’s African troops killed the wounded, he insisted on being left behind in the hope of being able to save the lives of the other wounded men. Though he was twice asked to leave he ordered his men to abandon him and began firing on the Germans who were within twenty-five metres of his post. When his body was found seven enemy dead lay around it.
Died
3 September 1915
Buried or Commemorated
Voi Cemetery, Kenya
Current location of the VC
Australian War Memorial