Lance Corporal William Charles Fuller VC

It was on September 14 in 1914 when Lance Corporal William Charles Fuller of Laugharne performed the heroic act which would see him become the first Welshman to be awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

Fuller put his own life at risk – going under enemy fire in order to rescue his senior officer, Captain Mark Haggard, before proceeding to carry him 100 yards to safety. This all took place at the First Battle of the Aisne (Aisne River, northern France). This would not be Fuller’s only heroic deed, however, as sometime after the war, the great man was awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal for Life-Saving after attempting to save a drowning child at Mwmbwls, Bae Abertawe (Mumbles, Swansea Bay).

Other Welsh Victoria Cross Recipients of the First World War

Fuller would be the first of 14 Welsh-born soldiers to be awarded the Victoria Cross drawing the war (and I plan on writing about some of the Welsh soldiers not born in Cymru, such as Corporal John Collins and Allan Leonard Lewis, soon). I have written their names in alphabetical order by their surname below:

Captain Frederick Barter of Cardiff (17 January 1891 – 15 May 1953)

Sergeant Major Robert James Bye of Pontypridd (12 December 1889 − 23 August 1962)

Corporal James Llewellyn Davies of Ogmore Vale (16 March 1886 – 31 July 1917) (Posthumous Recipient)

Brigadier Lewis Pugh Evans of Abermad (3 January 1881 – 30 November 1962)

Sergeant William Charles Fuller of Laugharne (13 March 1884 – 29 December 1974) (First Welsh recipient during the war, pictured)

Lance Corporal Hubert William Lewis of Milford Haven (1 May 1896 – 22 February 1977)

Company Sergeant Major Ivor Rees of Felinfoel (18 October 1893 – 11 March 1967)

Group Captain Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees of Caernarfon (31 July 1884 – 28 September 1955)

Captain John Fox Russell of Caergybi/Holyhead (27 January 1893 – 6 November 1917) (Posthumous Recipient)

Section Commander Richard William Leslie Wain of Penarth (5 December 1896 – 20 November 1917) (Posthumous Recipient)

Lance Sergeant William Herbert Waring of Welshpool (13 October 1885 – 8 October 1918) (Posthumous Recipient)

Sergeant Henry Weale of Shotton (2 October 1897 – 13 January 1959)

Company Sergeant Major John Henry Williams of Nantyglo (29 September 1886 – 7 March 1953)

William Williams of Amlwch (5 October 1890 – 22 October 1965)

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