Role Armed force officer Battles and wars World War I, World War II | Name Joseph Tombs | |
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Years of service 1912 - 1920 (UK)1939 - 1944 (Canada) Unit The King's (Liverpool Regiment) Battles/wars World War IWorld War II Died June 28, 1966, Toronto, Canada Place of burial Pine Hills Cemetery, Toronto, Canada, Toronto, Canada Similar People Edward Felix Baxter, David Jones, Jack Thomas Counter | ||
Joseph Harcourt Tombs VC (23 Mar 1887 – 28 June 1966) born Frederick Griffith Tombs 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.
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VC action
Tombs was born in Birmingham and was a 28-year-old Lance-Corporal in the 1st Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 16 May 1915 near Rue du Bois, France, Lance-Corporal Tombs, on his own initiative, crawled out repeatedly under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire to bring in wounded men who were lying about 100 yards in front of our trenches. He rescued four men, one of whom he dragged back by means of a rifle sling placed round his own neck and the man's body.
Later life
He was promoted corporal and after the war, in 1921, emigrated to Canada where he spent the rest of his life. During World War II Tombs enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at the Flying School in Trenton, Ontario. A 1952 operation to remove some of the shrapnel still embedded in his stomach was not completely successful, and in 1964 he suffered a stroke. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of the King's Regiment in Liverpool, England.