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Modest hero of Gallipoli
John Vincent23 Jun 2008
Medals awarded to a First World War major who died a recluse in London are expected to fetch up to £180,000 at auction.
Herbert James earned the Victoria and Military Crosses for repeated acts of outstanding gallantry but was so modest that when a reception was planned for his return home to Birmingham on sick leave, he took an earlier train to avoid it.
By the mid-Fifties, he was separated from his second wife and living alone in a small, rented flat in Brunswick Gardens, Kensington, with no phone or visitors. One day, he was found by his landlord unconscious after suffering a seizure and remaining undiscovered for six days.
After an ambulance had taken him to hospital, the landlord returned to his room and picked up a book containing a complete list of VCs. "It fell open at a page marked in pencil. The line was against Major James's name and that was the first we knew of his record," the landlord said later. The Gallipoli VC and Western Front MC and five other medals awarded to the soldier are to be sold at specialist auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb in London on Thursday, together with a large silver salver bearing his name, presented to him by fellow officers of the Worcestershire Regiment. The seller is a private source.
Major James joined the Army in 1909, aged 22, and served in India before going to Gallipoli in 1915. After nearly all the officers were killed, he took command of disorganised troops and twice led them forward under heavy fire.
Five days later, he led a party of bombthrowers up a Turkish communication trench until he was the last man standing. He rescued a wounded comrade from beneath a pile of bodies and then staged an amazing and protracted one-man stand under a hail of bullets until reinforcements arrived.
Medal specialist Pierce Noonan said: "It was valour of the very highest order while exposed to a murderous fire. He truly was the bravest of the brave."
Major James was injured while rescuing wounded comrades in No Man's Land, which he did every night. He was wounded again on the Somme and had a silver plate inserted in his head but insisted on returning to the front and earned the MC after more acts of courage. He did attend a special ceremony in Birmingham hosted by Neville Chamberlain, then the city's lord mayor, and went to his old school to be given a sword of honour.
