Joseph Harcourt Tombs

Sergeant Joseph Harcourt Tombs VC (23 March 1887 − 28 June 1966), born Frederick Griffith Tombs, who under the name Joseph Tombs, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award of the British (Imperial) honours system. The VC is awarded for ‘most conspicuous bravery … in the presence of the enemy’.

VC action Tombs was born in Birmingham and was a 28-year-old Lance-Corporal in the 1st Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 16 May 1915 near Rue du Bois, France, Lance-Corporal Tombs, on his own initiative, crawled out repeatedly under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire to bring in wounded men who were lying about 100 yards in front of our trenches. He rescued four men, one of whom he dragged back by means of a rifle sling placed round his own neck and the man's body.

Later life He was promoted Corporal in the field (24 May 1915) and after the war, emigrated to Canada where he spent the rest of his life. On 25 May 1920, Tombs enlisted in the Canadian Army in Montréal, and served as a Private in The Royal Canadian Regiment. His attestation papers are held in The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, Wolseley Barracks, London, Ontario). During the Second World War Tombs enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at the Flying School in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. A 1952 operation to remove some of the shrapnel still embedded in his stomach was not completely successful, and in 1964 he suffered a stroke. His Victoria Cross is held by the Royal Regiment of Canada Foundation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.