Donald John Dean

In late September 1918, near the destroyed industrial landscape of Lens in northern France, an isolated trench position known as Canary Trench was subjected to sustained trench-mortar, machine-gun, and shell fire. The position, taken from German forces shortly before, suffered from an exposed left flank and lacked defensive depth. Command of the platoon holding this sector fell to Temporary Lieutenant Donald John Dean, a twenty-one-year-old officer in the 8th Battalion, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Over a forty-eight-hour period from September 24 to September 26, the platoon sustained heavy bombardment and repulsed five separate German counterattacks. Working alongside his men under direct fire, Dean consolidated the position, directed defensive rifle fire, personally engaged incoming assault parties, and managed communications during the assault. His platoon sergeant, Sergeant Skinner, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the engagement, while four other soldiers in the unit received the Military Medal.

The London Gazette published the official award of the Victoria Cross on 14 December 1918:

"For most conspicuous bravery, skilful command, and devotion to duty during the period 24th to 26th September, 1918, when holding, with his platoon, an advance post established in a newly-captured enemy trench north-west of Lens. The left flank of the position was insecure, and the post, when taken over on the night of the 24th of September, was ill-prepared for defence. Shortly after the post was occupied the enemy attempted, without success, to recapture it. Under heavy machine-gun fire, consolidation was continued, and shortly after midnight another determined enemy attack was driven off. Throughout the night Lt. Dean worked unceasingly with his men, and about 6 a.m. on 25th September a resolute enemy attack, supported by heavy shell and trench-mortar fire, developed. Again, owing to the masterly handling of his command, Lt. Dean repulsed the attack, causing heavy enemy casualties. Throughout the 25th and the night of the 25/26th September, consolidation was continued under heavy fire, which culminated in intense artillery fire on the morning of the 26th, when the enemy again attacked and was finally repulsed with loss. Five times in all (thrice heavily) was this post attacked, and on each occasion the attack was driven back. Throughout the period Lt. Dean inspired his command with his own contempt of danger, and all fought with the greatest bravery. He set an example of valour, leadership and devotion to duty of the very highest order."

Military service began several years prior for the London-born son of a Kentish brick manufacturer. Born in Herne Hill on 19 April 1897 and educated at Quernmore College in Bromley, Dean attempted to enlist immediately when war broke out in August 1914 but was rejected for being under age. He served as a special constable and joined the Volunteer Training Corps until reaching eighteen in April 1915, at which point he enlisted as a private in the 28th London Regiment (Artists' Rifles). Deployed to France in August 1915, he saw trench service in the Ypres Salient, at Ploegsteert, and across the Somme sector.

Commissioned into the 11th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in October 1916, Dean participated in operations around Vimy Ridge, Givenchy, and the Tower Hamlets sector during the Battle of Passchendaele. Front-line service brought frequent combat trauma and multiple physical injuries. A minor shrapnel wound to the knee in December 1916 was followed by severe injuries in March 1917 when he took cover in a flooded shell crater under heavy fire, double wounds in October 1917, and severe hot shell-fragment burns to his hip and thigh in October 1918, shortly after the action at Canary Trench. Following the disbandment of the 11th Battalion in early 1918, he transferred to the 8th Battalion, where he earned a Mention in Despatches prior to his Victoria Cross action.

King George V presented the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 15 February 1919 while Dean was home on medical leave. Returning to civilian life in Kent, he joined the family brickmaking enterprise, Smeed Dean & Co., married Marjorie Emily Wood in 1923, and raised two children. Parallel to his business career, he maintained active service in the Territorial Army, gaining promotion to captain in the 4th Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) in 1921, reaching the rank of major in 1930, and assuming battalion command as lieutenant colonel in 1936.

At the onset of the Second World War in late 1939, British Army divisional policy required Territorial battalion commanders to be replaced by regular military officers. Reassigned to command No. 5 Group, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, Dean took charge of a unit comprised primarily of manual labourers. Deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, the group carried out logistical work in the Doullens sector without defensive weapons training or standard small arms allocation.

When German armoured formations broke through toward the English Channel in May 1940, Dean secured rail transport from Saint-Pol to Wimereux, equipped eight hundred pioneers with weapons gathered from retreating forces, and set up defensive positions outside Boulogne. Positioned along a three-mile perimeter alongside the 20th Guards Brigade without radio communications, his improvised force constructed anti-tank obstacles and held its sector against direct armoured attacks on 23 May. Serving as part of the rearguard for the evacuation ships, Dean ensured his personnel embarked before boarding the final departing vessel. Erroneously listed as killed in action during the heavy fighting, he returned safely to England and received promotion to full lieutenant colonel.

Subsequent war service carried him to Madagascar in 1942, where he managed the disarming and repatriation of Vichy French forces, followed by operational appointments during the 1943 Sicily landings and the Italian mainland campaign. Mentioned twice more in despatches during the Second World War, he reached the rank of Colonel in April 1945.

In the post-war years, Dean filled civic responsibilities in Kent, serving as Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant of the county, and Chairman of the local Royal British Legion branch for fifty years. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and made a Commander of the Royal Danish Order of the Dannebrog. When Donald John Dean died at his home in Sittingbourne on 9 December 1985 at eighty-eight years of age, he was the last surviving British soldier to have been awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War.