Victoria Cross awarded to hero Tommy sells for £220,000

Victoria Cross awarded to hero Tommy who single-handedly machine-gunned more than 20 Germans to death and shot down a fighter plane in World War One sells for £220,000

• Sergeant Arnold Loosemore was awarded for conduct in Third Battle of Ypres
• Dramatic action took place south of Langemarck in Belgium on August 11, 1917 

The Victoria Cross awarded to a hero Tommy who killed over 20 Germans to thwart their counter attack has today sold for £220,000.

Sergeant Arnold Loosemore received the highest British gallantry award for his conduct during the second Anglo-French general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres.

The dramatic action took place south of Langemarck in Belgium on August 11, 1917, during some of the bloodiest fighting of the First World War.

Sergeant Loosemore, of the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), saw two members of his section had been killed beside him.

He crawled through cut wire dragging a Lewis gun and steadied himself to shoot dead 20 Germans.

When his  gun was blown up by a German bomb, three of the enemy rushed him.

But he shot them all with his revolver then took out several enemy snipers.

Sergeant Loosemore completed his heroics by carrying a wounded comrade to their original post under heavy fire.

A day earlier, Sergeant Loosemore shot down a German fighter plane which was engaged in a dogfight with a British aircraft, saving the pilot’s life. 

The Victoria Cross awarded to a hero Tommy who killed over 20 Germans to thwart their counter attack has today sold for £220,000. Sergeant Arnold Loosemore received the highest British gallantry award for his conduct during the second Anglo-French general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres

His Victoria Cross citation reads: ‘For most conspicuous bravery and initiative during the attack on a strongly-held enemy position.

‘His platoon having been checked by heavy machine-gun !re, he crawled through partially cut wire, dragging his Lewis gun with him, and single-handed dealt with a strong party of the enemy, killing about twenty of them, and thus covering the consolidation of the position taken up by his platoon.

‘Immediately afterwards his Lewis gun was blown up by bomb, and three enemy rushed for him, but he shot them all with his revolver.

‘Later he shot several enemy snipers, exposing himself to heavy fire each time.

‘On returning to the original post he also brought back a wounded comrade under heavy !re at the risk of his own life.

‘He displayed throughout an utter disregard of danger.’

He was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry with the 1st/4th Battalion at Zillebeke during a raid on June 20, 1918.

They captured 11 prisoners and one machine gun, while inflicting numerous casualties being inflicted on the enemy.

Sergeant Loosemore completed his heroics by carrying a wounded comrade to their original post under heavy fire

The dramatic action took place south of Langemarck in Belgium on August 11, 1917, during some of the bloodiest fighting of the First World War. Sergeant Loosemore, of the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), saw two members of his section had been killed beside him

He crawled through cut wire dragging a Lewis gun and steadied himself to shoot dead 20 Germans

Sergeant Loosemore, from Sheffield, was severely wounded by machine gun fire at Villers-en-Cauchies on October 11, 1918, resulting in his left leg being amputated.

The Gallipoli campaign veteran never fully recovered from his war wounds, and died because of tuberculosis in 1924.

His medal group, which also included the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory medals, was sold by a private collector at London-based auctioneers Noonans.

The Daily Mail reported on him being awarded the Victoria Cross, telling how he had six brothers, all of whom were also soldiers.  

The Daily Mail reported on Sergeant Loosemore being awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917

Christopher Mellor-Hill, head of client liaison at Noonans, said: ‘Loosemore’s medals are a phenomenal achievement with only 19 men receiving both the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Conduct Medal during the Great War.

‘Of these, only three received the D.C.M. after the V.C, and consequently Loosemore’s D.C.M. is just one of three to be named with the post-nominal letters ‘V.C’.

‘No other medal is as desirable and sought-after by collectors as the Victoria Cross.

‘This example was sold by the by the recipient’s son in 1996.’

Sergeant Loosemore, the son of a cemetery gardener, was born in Sharrow, Sheffield, in 1896.

He was the sixth of seven brothers, all of whom served during the Great War.

Educated at Clifford School in Sheffield, he was employed as a farmworker at Fulwood, Yorkshire when war was declared in 1914, and immediately volunteered.

Turned down for enlistment owing to his frail physique, he took a job with a coal merchant to build up his strength, and successfully attested for the

York and Lancaster Regiment in January 1915.

He transferred to the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) in March 1915 and served with the 8th Battalion during the Great War in the Gallipoli theatre of war from September 1915.

Departing Turkey in December 1915, Sgt Loosemore returned to England, before being posted to France, arriving on the Western Front in July 1916 as a Lewis machine-gunner.

Promoted to Corporal in August 1917, Sgt Loosemore’s Victoria Cross was announced in September 1917, and he was presented with the V.C. riband by the General Officer Commanding at Poperinghe.

His medal group, which also included the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory medals, was sold by a private collector at London-based auctioneers Noonans. Above (left to right): Sergeant Loosemore’s Victoria Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal

He was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace in January 1918, and the following day attended a civic reception in his home city of Sheffield, where over 2,000 people cheered him from the steps of the town hall.

He was buried with full military honours, his funeral being organised by Sheffield City Council, with crowds lining the procession route from Hillsborough to Ecclesall, and the funeral service being conducted by the Lord Bishop of Sheffield.

His widow was denied a War Widows pension from the Government on the grounds that he was no longer a serving soldier at the time of their marriage, and, as her husband’s V.C. annuity ceased upon his death, she and their son were left penniless.

Shamefully, she was then sent the bill for her husband’s funeral procession by the City Council.

Sixty years later the City Council belatedly attempted to right this wrong, by naming a new residential road ‘Loosemore Drive’ in his honour.

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