Robert Grierson Combe

Robert Grierson Combe (5 August 1880 – 3 May 1917) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth forces during the First World War.

Early life Combe was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 5 August 1880, son of James Combe, a hotel owner, and Elizabeth Jardine.

Combe moved to Canada in April 1906 and initially worked as a pharmacist in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. After relocating to Melville, Saskatchewan in 1908, where he set up his own pharmacy and later opened another branch in Dubuc. He married Jean Traquair Donald in Melville on 18 August 1909.

Memorials and medal Combe was buried in a battlefield cemetery near Acheville. Subsequent heavy shelling destroyed the burial site, leaving his grave unrecovered. He is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

In 1919, Edward, Prince of Wales, presented Combe's Victoria Cross to his widow in Regina, Saskatchewan. The medal is preserved in the collection of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan in Regina. Combe is also commemorated by Combe Reservoir near Melville, Saskatchewan.