Front Matter

Sergeant O'Leary at La Bassee

Preface

The Great War has brought forth many golden deeds of individual bravery, and some of the more representative and popular exploits are gathered together in the following pages. While it would not be fair to characterize them as the bravest deeds, yet we may well rank them as among the finest examples of personal courage, devotion to duty, and self-sacrificing service that the war has produced. That all who read the following pages may be thrilled with a deeper sense of the matchless heroism displayed on land and sea and in air by the men of our breed, and be stimulated to better lives and worthier service, is the object of the writer. He has aimed at telling in these simple, straightforward chapters the undying stories of the heroes who have won the Victoria Cross in the Great War, and believes that for young people in particular the stimulus gained by reading these tales may be of permanent value in life. It only remains to add that while much of the material has been gained from the columns of the Press, some of the stories have been written from independent sources, some from material supplied by the heroes themselves. A number of the incidents narrated here appeared in serial form in the Vivid War Weekly, published by the Amalgamated Press, Limited, to whom the writer acknowledges his best thanks for permission to make use of certain portions.