c. 1917. Lieutenant (Lt) Leonard
Keysor VC, 1st Battalion.
Lt Keysor was
awarded the Victoria Cross as a Lance Corporal (LCpl) for "most
conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Lone Pine Trenches, in the
Gallipoli Peninsula" on 7 August 1915.
LCpl Keysor, in a trench
under enemy bomb attack, picked up two live bombs and threw them back at
the enemy, and although he was wounded continued to throw bombs until
the trench was secure.
The next day, he
successfully bombed the enemy out of a strategically important part of
the trench. He was again wounded and, refusing to leave, volunteered to
throw bombs for another company which had lost all of their bomb
throwers.
In 1918 Lt Keysor
returned to Australia to assist in the recruiting campaign, before being
discharged on medical grounds on 12 December 1918. In 1920 he returned
to London, where he died on 12 October 1951. (Donor R. Arman)
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