ARTHUR MARTIN-LEAKE
“FOR MOST CONSPICUOUS BRAVERY AND DEVOTION TO DUTY THROUGHOUT THE CAMPAIGN, ESPECIALLY DURING THE PERIOD 29 OCTOBER TO 8 NOVEMBER 1914, NEAR ZONNEBEKE, IN RESCUING, WHILST EXPOSED TO CONSTANT FIRE, A LARGE NUMBER OF THE WOUNDED WHO WERE LYING CLOSE TO THE ENEMY’S TRENCHES”
Citation for Martin-Leake’s Clasp to his Victoria Cross
Arthur Martin-Leake, serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914 was the first man to be awarded a Bar to the Victoria Cross he received during the Second Boer War in 1902. In both circumstances Martin-Leake’s conduct was to put the lives of his injured comrades first despite being exposed to constant enemy fire and being wounded himself. Martin-Leake is the only recipient to gain his two Victoria Crosses in separate wars. Only two other men have been awarded two Victoria Crosses: Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse in 1916 and 1917, and Captain Charles Upham in 1941 and 1942.
The citation for Martin-Leake’s second Victoria Cross was not for a single action. Rather, it was for a series of actions throughout the period from 29 October to 8 November 1914, during which Martin-Leake rescued a large number of wounded “whilst exposed to constant fire” around the Belgian town of Zonnebeke. Zonnebeke was located at the centre of the Ypres Salient
