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The Regiment’s only late entry Victoria Cross winner
Captain JJ Crowe of the 2nd Worcesters is commemorated by a plaque
unveiled at the scene of his gallantry
by Major John Cotterill
When Captain John James Crowe won
the Victoria Cross in 1918 he became the first and only member of the British Army
to do so when already holding the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He also became the only Late Entry Victoria Cross winner in any of our antecedent Regiments. Many officers have won the VC having risen from the ranks but none other has done so after being commissioned from RSM after 21 years service. However it was neither
of these distinctions that led to him being commemorated by a fine plaque at the scene of his gallantry. Instead it was his shooting prowess as one of the best shots in what was, at the time, indisputably the Army’s premier shooting regiment that led to this distinction.
This came about after some research carried out by Mr Don Mills, the Vice Captain of the Dover and Ramsgate Rifle Club. He discovered that the then C/Sgt Crowe was a member of the club from 1908 to 1911 when his battalion were stationed in Dover. The club was formed
in 1900 and was one of the many civilian target rifle clubs that were founded around the country. Crowe was one of the club’s outstanding shots and also represented
his unit at Bisley on several occasions. He was born in 1876, the son of a soldier of the 36th Regiment (which became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment in 1881). His father was gamekeeper to the ex-CO of the 36th on his estate in Ireland and taught young John to shoot rabbits
at early age. In 1897 John James Crowe joined his father’s old regiment.
By 1917 Crowe was RSM of the 3rd Worcesters on the Western Front. On 21 March 1918 the Germans had begun their great series of offensives to try to win the war before the Americans could develop their full strength. The British Army was driven back 50 miles with massive loss. On 1st April 1918 RSM Crowe, 41 years old with 20 years service, was commissioned as Lieutenant and Adjutant into the 2nd Worcesters. Two weeks after that the remnants of the 2nd Worcesters, barely six depleted platoons, were hanging on grimly in two buildings in the village of Neuve Eglise eight miles south of Ypres. The Germans, using their new infiltration tactics, had broken through and the Worcesters had fallen back into the village the previous day. Here 136 men of the battalion, led by the Senior Major, had counter attacked. The ferocity of the fighting is shown by
J J Crowe prior to his commissioning
the fact that only 7 of them were captured alive. The other 129 all died fighting. The Commanding Officer; Lt Col Stoney, was eventually left with the Battalion’s survivors, most of them wounded, in a brick built hospice in the village. The Germans surrounded the building and set up three machine guns around it to prevent any escape. To make matters worse British artillery fire on the village
Only Crowe reached the German machine gun, shooting first a covering party and then the crew itself on the run. Once he had secured the position the Commanding Officer led the survivors of the battalion west to rejoin the new British front line over towards Mount Kemmel. This withdrawal, with almost everyone carrying wounded comrades, was covered by Lt Crowe, now joined by 2Lt Pointon and eight others, from his newly captured hillock and by Pte Bough, still firing his Lewis gun from the roof of the hospice. The Germans were
so surprised that even these rearguards were able to withdraw without further loss. Crowe, subsequently promoted to Captain, received the Victoria Cross from King George V at an investiture in the field.
The Dover and Ramsgate Rifle Club decided that the heroism of one of its members should be commemorated at
the scene of his actions. Therefore, led by Mr Billy Hollis, their Honorary Secretary
they raised funds for a metal plaque to be erected on the wall of the hospice from which Crowe sortied. The hospice is now
a summer school called De Bosgeus and owner was delighted to have the plaque emplaced as were the local authorities in the Commune of Heuvelland, within which the village of Neuve Eglise (now called Nieuwkerke) lies. The plaque includes a picture of Crowe, a map showing the exploit that won him the VC and an explanatory text about the man and the battle.
On 16 April 2011 the plaque was
unveiled by Doreen granddaughter of J
Pannett, who is the
J Crowe. This took place as part of a small ceremony attended
by over twenty descendants of the man himself and another fifty odd spectators from
the Dover and District Rifle Club, the Western Front Association
and the local Belgian community. The
was intensifying as none imagined that there were still Worcesters alive so far behind the German advance. 2Lt Johnson volunteered to take a message to the British lines and was killed in the attempt.
John Crowe stepped forward and volunteered to take a party to try to knock out one of the German positions
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
At this stage the
newly commissioned John Crowe stepped forward and volunteered to take a party
to try to knock out one of the German positions, on a small hillock west of the hospice, and from there, cover the escape of the survivors. He took ten men, including CQMS Trotman and crept out to the shelter of a nearby cowshed. From there he and two others worked their way round to the flank of the German position and rushed it.
Regiment was represented Lt Col Bill Temminck, Lt Col Mark Holden, Maj John Cotterill and Mr Cliff Housley. Also taking part in the ceremony were Mr Bernard Heens from the Commune of Heuvelland, Mr Gunter Pertry from the Belgian Ministry of Culture and the Reverend Brian Llewellyn, who is the Chaplain of St Georges Memorial Church in Ypres. The Last Post and Reveille were blown by buglers from the Last Post