Noel Godfrey Chavasse

Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse was a British medical doctor, Olympic athlete, and British Army officer with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He serves as one of only three people in history, and the only one during the First World War, to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice. Attached to the 1/10th (Scottish) Battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment), Chavasse served with distinction on the Western Front, demonstrating extraordinary heroism in tending to wounded soldiers.

His first Victoria Cross was earned at Guillemont, France, in August 1916, where he braved intense enemy fire for hours to rescue and treat dozens of wounded men. In July and August 1917, during the fighting at Wieltje, Belgium, Chavasse again displayed monumental courage. Despite being severely wounded early in the action, he refused to leave his post and continued to search for and treat casualties under constant fire.

Captain Chavasse succumbed to his wounds on August 4, 1917, and was laid to rest in the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium. Uniquely, his military headstone is engraved with a representation of two Victoria Crosses, commemorating his unparalleled devotion to his fellow soldiers and his historic status as a double recipient of Great Britain's highest military decoration.