Frederick John Luke

Braving close rifle fire, he helped save a gun at Le Cateau.

Frederick John Luke was born near Romsey, Hampshire, on 29 September 1895. The son of William and Kate Luke, he attended Lockerley School and worked as a farm labourer at East Dean. He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1913, while still seventeen, and reached France with the British Expeditionary Force on 19 August 1914. He served as a driver in 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.

On 26 August, during the retreat from Mons, the British fought at Le Cateau. With German infantry closing on the artillery positions, Luke and fellow driver Job Henry Charles Drain volunteered to help Captain Douglas Reynolds save guns. Under heavy fire they helped bring one gun away, although enemy infantry were only about 100 yards distant. Luke was eighteen. Reynolds, Drain and Luke each received the Victoria Cross for their part in the rescue. Luke's award was announced on 25 November 1914, and George V presented it to him at Locon, France, on 1 December.

The decoration did not end his front-line service. Wounded at Ypres on 2 May 1915, he returned to Britain for treatment. He subsequently became a sergeant with D Battery, 180th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, serving with the 16th Division, and went back to France in January 1918. In November 1920 he joined the Victoria Cross guard at the burial of the Unknown Warrior.

Luke married Jane Wilson in Glasgow on 4 April 1919 and made his civilian life in Scotland. He worked as a Labour Bureau clerk and later as a janitor at Glasgow High School for Boys. His Army reserve service ended in 1929.

During the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Air Force in July 1941. As a ground gunner he served with No. 744 Defence Squadron at Dyce, which became No. 2744 Squadron when the RAF Regiment was formed in February 1942. He subsequently instructed at Belton Park. In November 1943 he transferred to the RAF Marine Branch as a boat crewman, spending much of 1944 at Oban. He left the RAF in August 1945.

After the war Luke worked as a gauge and tool storeman at Weirs of Cathcart until 1960. He returned to Le Cateau and received the freedom of the town, while continuing to attend veterans' gatherings. In 1979 he visited 93 (Le Cateau) Battery in West Germany. He died in Glasgow on 12 March 1983, aged eighty-seven, and was cremated at Linn Crematorium.

OFFICIAL VICTORIA CROSS CITATION

The London Gazette, 25 November 1914, page 9957. Shared citation for Drivers Job Henry Charles Drain and Frederick Luke, 37th Battery Royal Field Artillery.

At Le Cateau on 26th August, as volunteers, helping to save guns under fire from hostile infantry who were 100 yards away.