Post by anthony on Oct 31, 2009 7:52:38 GMT
Allan Leonard Lewis, 6th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment was the 11th and last recipient of the 18th Division awarded the Victoria Cross on the Western Front. He was commended for most conspicuous bravery at Ronssoy on the 18 September 1918 and was killed by machine gun fire three days later. The original citation published on 31 January 1919, the 1953 War Office “Alphabetical list of Victoria Cross recipients” and “Monuments of courage” published in 1999 all wrongly spell the location as Rossnoy. “Monuments of courage” includes an illustration of the family headstone which states he was killed in action near Ronssoy. Google maps show that Ronssoy is north of St Quentin. There is no place named Rossnoy in France. Allan Lewis is commemoration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) at Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. The CWGC online database at www.cwgc.org includes the full Victoria Cross citation with the correct spelling of Ronssoy.