Action
On 12 March 1879 on the Intombe River, South Africa (Zulu War), during an attack by very large numbers of the enemy, Colour-Sergeant Booth rallied a few men on the south bank of the river and covered the retreat of 50 soldiers and others for a distance of three miles. Had it not been for the coolness displayed by this NCO not one man would have escaped. He later achieved the rank of Colour Sergeant.
The London Gazette has him as a colour sergeant, but on the day of the Battle of Ntombe, (or Battle of Intombe) he was actually a sergeant, his promotion came the following day to replace a colour sergeant killed in the action. The gazetting of his VC was delayed due to the fact the surviving officer from the action Lt. Henry Hollingworth Harward was court-martialled for cowardice, the trial commenced on 20 February 1880 and concluded on 27 February 1880. Harward escaped the charges brought against him for deserting his men and he resigned his commission in May 1880. During the course of the trial Booth's award appeared in the London Gazette on 24 February 1880.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of the Staffordshire Regiment in Whittington, Staffordshire.
Read more about this topic: Anthony Clarke Booth
Famous quotes containing the word action:
“The curse of me & my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)