Richard Annand

Captain Richard Wallace Annand VC became the first British Army soldier to receive the Victoria Cross in the Second World War , after extraordinary acts of gallantry with the Durham Light Infantry on the River Dyle in Belgium in May 1940. Born on 5 November 1914 in South Shields, Annand joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1933. In 1937 he applied for a regular Royal Navy commission as a seaman officer, but was considered too old for that route and declined the administrative alternative offered to him. Turning instead to the Army, he was commissioned into the Supplementary Reserve of the Durham Light Infantry in January 1938.

On 15 and 16 May 1940, Second Lieutenant Annand was commanding 16 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, during the desperate defence of the River Dyle near Gastuche, Belgium. When German forces attacked across the demolished road bridge, Annand led counter-attacks against them. After his small-arms ammunition was exhausted, he went forward alone across open ground under mortar and machine-gun fire and attacked the German bridging party with hand grenades, inflicting more than twenty casualties.

Although wounded, Annand returned to his platoon, had his wounds dressed and continued in command. When the Germans attacked again that evening, he once more went forward with grenades and inflicted further heavy casualties. During the withdrawal early on 16 May, Annand learned that his wounded batman, Private Joseph Lakeman Hunter, had been left behind. He immediately returned to the abandoned position, found Hunter and attempted to bring him to safety in a wheelbarrow. A fallen tree eventually blocked their route, and Annand, weakened by blood loss, was unable to lift Hunter over it. He left to seek assistance before collapsing from his wounds. Hunter was subsequently captured and later died of his wounds. For his repeated acts of courage, Annand was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first awarded to a member of the British Army during the Second World War.

Annand's wounds caused permanent damage to his hearing, which deteriorated further during rifle practice in 1941. No longer able to continue frontline service with his battalion, he spent the remainder of the war in Britain as an instructor, training soldiers, Home Guard personnel and commandos. His wartime postings included the Commando Training Centre at Inverailort in Inverness-shire, the Highland Fieldcraft Centre in the Cairngorms and a period at the War Office. He reached the rank of Captain in 1948 and relinquished his commission because of disability later that year, retaining the rank of Captain.

In civilian life, Annand devoted decades to helping disabled people. In 1948 he became Personnel Officer at the Finchale Abbey Training Centre for the Disabled near Durham, where he served for approximately 30 years. Drawing on his own experience of severe hearing loss, he became a founder member of the British Association of the Hard of Hearing and also helped establish the County Durham Association for the Disabled. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Durham in 1956 and remained closely associated with the Durham Light Infantry and the Victoria Cross community throughout his later life. Captain Richard Wallace Annand VC died in Durham on 24 December 2004, aged 90, leaving a legacy defined not only by extraordinary courage under fire, but by a lifetime of service to others.