William Bloomfield (VC)

He crossed fire-swept ground and carried a wounded man home.

William Anderson Bloomfield was born in Edinburgh on 30 January 1873. His family, whose surname also appears as Broomfield, emigrated to South Africa in 1878. He grew up there and established the South African connection that shaped his military career. Before the First World War his service included the Bechuanaland campaign, recognized by the Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal.

During the Great War, Bloomfield served as a captain in the Scout Corps attached to the 2nd South African Mounted Brigade. In German East Africa, the brigade operated against the forces of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. The campaign involved long marches, difficult communications and repeated attempts to block a smaller but mobile enemy. In August 1916 the brigade advanced towards Mlali as part of an attempt to close escape routes around Morogoro.

On 24 August, Bloomfield's advanced and isolated force came under heavy attack, with the enemy moving around its flanks. He organized the removal of the wounded and helped bring his command back to another position. Only after reaching it did he discover that Corporal D. M. P. Bowker had been left behind.

The Victoria Cross notice of 30 December 1916 describes the rescue that followed. Bowker lay about four hundred yards away across open ground swept by rifle and machine-gun fire. With attempts to arrange his recovery frustrated by the intensity of that fire, Bloomfield went himself, reached the corporal and carried him back. Both the outward and return journeys were made in full enemy view. The citation stresses the courage and endurance required to bring a wounded man across that ground (official citation reproduced by the British government: https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/ww1-south-african-vc-recipient-wiliam-anderson-bloomfield).

Bloomfield was also mentioned in despatches. After the East African service he volunteered for France and eventually attained major. King George V presented his Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 20 October 1917. His subsequent life was in South Africa, and he died at his home in Ermelo on 12 May 1954, aged eighty-one. Family correspondence preserved the rescued man's gratitude and helped later historians reconstruct the action in greater detail than the short official notice alone could provide.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery. Finding that, after being heavily attacked in an advanced and isolated position, the enemy were working round his flanks, Captain Bloomfield evacuated his wounded, and subsequently withdrew his command to a new position, he himself being amongst the last to retire. On arrival at the new position he found that one of the wounded - No. 2475 Corporal D. M. P. Bowker - had been left behind. Owing to very heavy fire he experienced difficulties in having the wounded Corporal brought in. Rescue meant passing over some 400 yards of open ground, swept by heavy fire, in full view of the enemy. This task Captain Bloomfield determined to face himself, and unmindful of personal danger, he succeeded in reaching Corporal Bowker and carrying him back, subjected throughout the double journey to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. This act showed the highest degree of valour and endurance.

Second Supplement to The London Gazette of 29 December 1916. 30 December 1916, Numb. 29885, pp. 12735-36