Robert Grierson Combe

Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe VC (5 August 1880 – 3 May 1917) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Born in St. Machar, Aberdeen, Scotland, he was the youngest child of hotel keeper James Combe and Elizabeth Jardine. He attended Ferryhill School and Aberdeen Grammar School before serving a pharmacy apprenticeship under William E. Hay in Aberdeen and London. While living in London, he served one year in the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. In April 1906, Combe emigrated to Canada aboard the SS Pretorian. He joined the staff of a drugstore in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, before moving to Melville in 1908 to establish his own pharmacy, later opening a second location in Dubuc. He married schoolteacher Jean Traquair Donald in Melville on 18 August 1909. Prior to the First World War, he served one year in the 16th Light Horse militia.

Combe enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 1 April 1915 at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, receiving a direct commission as a Lieutenant in the 53rd Infantry Battalion. As a commissioned officer, Combe held officer rank throughout his wartime service and was not assigned an enlisted regimental service number. Upon deployment to England in September 1915, he qualified as a Major while serving on the instructional staff. Desiring front-line tactical command, Combe voluntarily reverted to the rank of Lieutenant. He arrived in France on 27 March 1916, rejoining the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion in the field two days later. In June 1916, severe lumbago resulting from trench exposure required his medical evacuation to England for treatment at Bath Officers' Hospital and subsequent instructional duty with the 11th Reserve Battalion at Shorncliffe. Certified fit for general service in March 1917, he returned to France and rejoined the 27th Battalion on 25 April 1917 during the Battle of Arras.

On 3 May 1917, during the Third Battle of the Scarpe, the 27th Battalion attacked German positions south of Acheville, near Vimy Ridge. Concentrated artillery crossfire decimated his company, leaving Combe as the sole surviving officer. Leading five surviving soldiers through the enemy barrage, Combe engaged the defenders using hand grenades. He gathered scattered groups of soldiers, captured 250 yards of trench, secured eighty prisoners, and established control over the company objective. While personally leading his grenade throwers in a further charge against retreating enemy forces, Combe was killed by an enemy sniper. He was initially buried in a battlefield cemetery near Acheville, where the cemetery was later destroyed by artillery fire and his remains were never recovered. He is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

The official citation for his Victoria Cross was published in the London Gazette on 27 June 1917:

"For most conspicuous bravery and example. He steadied his Company under intense fire and led them through the enemy barrage, reaching the objective with only five men. With great coolness and courage Lt. Combe proceeded to bomb the enemy, and inflicted heavy casualties. He collected small groups of men and succeeded in capturing the Company objective, together with eighty prisoners. He repeatedly charged the enemy, driving them before him, and whilst personally leading his bombers was killed by an enemy sniper. His conduct inspired all ranks, and it was entirely due to his magnificent courage that the position was carried, secured and held."

The Victoria Cross was presented to his widow, Jean Traquair Combe, by Edward, Prince of Wales, at the Legislative Assembly in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1919. Combe's complete mounted medal group consists of three decorations: the Victoria Cross, the British War Medal 1914–1920, and the Victory Medal 1914–1919. The physical medals are preserved in the collection of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan in Regina, Canada.