Sidney Bates

Corporal Sidney Bates VC was a British Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions during the battle of Normandy in World War II.

On the afternoon of 6 August 1944 near Viessoix, France, the 1st Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment was in the process of relieving another battalion when they were attacked by units of the 10th SS Panzer Division. The German assault, supported by armored forces and an intense artillery barrage, threatened to overrun the British positions.

Seeing his comrades pinned down under heavy fire, Corporal Bates, serving as a section commander, seized a Bren light machine gun and charged the enemy alone. Despite being repeatedly wounded and knocked to the ground, he continued to rise, advance, and fire upon the enemy forces, staggering forward to within yards of the German positions. His extraordinary courage inspired his company to return fire and successfully repulse the German counter-attack. Corporal Bates succumbed to his wounds in a military hospital two days later.