John Joseph Caffrey

He crossed open ground under fire to rescue two wounded men.

Lance Corporal John Joseph Caffrey, VC (23 October 1891 to 26 February 1953) was an Irish-born British Army soldier who received the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the First World War. Born in Birr, King's County (now County Offaly), Ireland, he was the son of John Caffrey, who had served in the York and Lancaster Regiment, and Hannah Caffrey. His family moved to Nottingham, where he attended St Mary's Roman Catholic School. In his early adolescence, Caffrey joined the 12th Nottingham Company of the Boys' Brigade and subsequently enlisted in the 7th Battalion, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (Robin Hood Rifles) of the Territorial Force in early 1910. He transferred to the York and Lancaster Regiment in 1910, serving with its 2nd Battalion as number 9730.

At the onset of the First World War in August 1914, Caffrey was stationed with his unit at Limerick, Ireland. Mobilized for immediate continental deployment, the 2nd Battalion embarked for France and landed at St. Nazaire on 9 September 1914. Serving within the 16th Infantry Brigade of the 6th Division, Caffrey entered active combat during operations east of Vailly-sur-Aisne later that month. On the night of 31 May 1915, his battalion moved into the trench sector near La Brique, a small hamlet situated just north of Ypres in Belgium. For rescuing a wounded officer under fire, Caffrey received the Russian Cross of St George, 4th Class, gazetted on 25 August 1915.

On 16 November 1915, while holding frontline trenches near La Brique, Caffrey performed the rescue that resulted in his award of the Victoria Cross. An infantryman belonging to the West Yorkshire Regiment lay severely injured in the open, immobilized approximately three hundred to four hundred yards from the German trenches under direct enemy observation. Private Caffrey and Corporal Stirk of the Royal Army Medical Corps immediately advanced to recover him but were driven back by shrapnel fire. A short time later, they made a second attempt under close sniping and machine-gun fire, reaching the casualty and dressing his wounds. As Corporal Stirk lifted the soldier onto Caffrey's back, Stirk sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Caffrey lowered the original casualty, bandaged Corporal Stirk's head injury, and assisted him back into the safety of the British trench. Caffrey then returned across the exposed ground alone and brought in the West Yorkshire Regiment soldier, having completed three separate trips across open terrain under accurate fire.

King George V invested Private Caffrey with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 23 February 1916. Following his investiture, he was promoted to corporal and later attained the rank of sergeant before his discharge on 8 February 1922. On 24 March 1917, he married Florence Avey at St Barnabas' Church in Cambridge. In post-war civilian life, Caffrey served as a constable with the River Wear Watch and later worked at Cammell Laird's Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company works in Nottingham until the facility closed in 1931. During the economic depression, he worked within public assistance administration.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Caffrey re-enlisted in the British Army in November 1939. He served as a Company Sergeant Major (CSM) in The Sherwood Foresters, executing home defense and training responsibilities. After the war, he worked as a commissionaire at Butlin's holiday camp in Filey, Yorkshire, alongside fellow Victoria Cross recipient Harry Nicholls. Caffrey died on 26 February 1953 at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary in Derby at sixty-one years of age. He was interred at Wilford Hill Cemetery (Southern Cemetery) in Nottingham.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery on 16th November, 1915, near La Brique. A man of the West Yorkshire Regiment had been badly wounded and was lying in the open unable to move in full view of and about 300 to 400 yards from the enemy’s trenches. Corporal Stirk, Royal Army Medical Corps, and Private Caffrey at once started out to rescue him, but at the first attempt they were driven back by shrapnel fire.

Soon afterwards they started again under close sniping and machine-gun fire, and succeeded in reaching and bandaging the wounded man, but, just as Corporal Stirk had lifted him on Private Caffrey’s back, he himself was shot in the head. Private Caffrey put down the wounded man, bandaged Corporal Stirk and helped him back into safety. He then returned and brought in the man of the West Yorkshire Regiment.

He had made three journeys across the open under close and accurate fire and had risked his own life to save others with the utmost coolness and bravery.