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Medal of Cheadle Hulme hero killed in last week of WW1 auctioned
BBC • • world
Key Points:
- A Victoria Cross awarded to Second Lieutenant James Kirk, who was killed defending comrades during the last week of World War One, is set to be auctioned by Noonans in London on 7 October, with an estimated value of £100,000 to £160,000.
- Kirk died in November 1918 while protecting Royal Engineers building a bridge over the Oise Canal in France during the Battle of Sambre, continuing to fight despite being wounded in the face and arm.
- He bravely paddled across the canal on a makeshift raft under heavy machine gun fire, using a Lewis machine gun to cover the engineers until he was fatally shot through the head.
- Kirk’s Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously and will be sold alongside his three other war service medals; he died in the same action as renowned war poet Wilfred Owen.
- The article highlights the immense sacrifices made during WW1, which resulted in approximately 17 million military and civilian deaths.
