For Valour

Losing his leg failed to hamper the distinguished career of Victoria Cross recipient Ferdinand ‘Freddie’ West, as Graham Pitchfork explains

VICTORIA CROSS

FERDINAND ‘FREDDIE’ WEST

Born in London in 1896, Freddie West spent his early life in Italy following the death of his father during the Boer War. He was commissioned into the Royal Munster Fusiliers in May 1915 and was soon in action on the Western Front, before being transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, in which he trained as an observer before returning to France to join 3 Squadron.

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