Stephen Walker MacDougall

A friend of mine went on the Somme & Ypres WW1 Battlefield tour last year and the tour guide told him a story that basically goes as follows:- a company were making an advance over no-mans land towards the German bunker, the Captain then decided for some reason, owing probably to a miscalculation, to retreat back to their own side. As they did this they were still being followed by heavy floods of German bullets and the British were losing as many men killed in the back as they did in the front. A young solider on his way back found his friend in the mud, who was wounded, but not dead. He picked him up and carried him on his back all the way to their bunker. Just as he approached the edge a bullet caught his leg and he fell. The Captain pulled him by his tunic and he fell into the bunker, with his friend still on his back. Both the soldier and Captain were decorated for this act, yet because of the Captains rank, his decoration was of a higher level than the soldiers, despite the more heroic actions being the soldiers own.