THOMAS RICKETTS

“HIS UTTER DISREGARD FOR PERSONAL SAFETY DIRECTLY RESULTED IN THESE IMPORTANT CAPTURES AND UNDOUBTEDLY SAVED MANY LIVES”
Thomas Ricketts’ VC citation

Another bullet punctures the mud just inches away from Private Thomas Ricketts’ head as the German guns ahead continue to fire at the Allied soldiers closing in on their position. Tasked with defending four field guns, they’re desperate to prevent the silhouettes darting around their flank from getting any closer. Ricketts’ breathing comes in snatches, his heart hammering in his chest as he prepares to make another short dash across open ground. Beside him lies his accomplice on this suicidal mission, Lance Corporal Matthew Brazil. Together they will either succeed in capturing the German artillery or die in the attempt. After all, they volunteered for this.

By 1918, the village of Ledegem, once a peaceful outpost in northwest Belgium, was a shattered skeleton, a