Richebourg 30/06/1916

Here in France commemorating those who served and their pals who never came home. By chance I met Nelson Carters Grand and Great Grandchildren in the cemetery where he is buried. Very moving experience - 'And you may tell them all that we stand or fall for Sussex by the Sea'

Good on you

A very brave man:

For the award of the Victoria Cross:

[ London Gazette, 9 September 1916 ], Boar's Head, Richebourg l'Avoué, France, 30 June 1916, Company Sergeant-Major Nelson Victor Carter, 4th Company, 12th Bn, Royal Sussex Regiment.



"For most conspicuous bravery. During an Attack he was in command of the fourth wave of the assault. Under intense shell and machine gun fire he penetrated, with a few men, into the enemy's second line and inflicted heavy casualties with bombs. When forced to retire to the enemy's first line, he captured a machine gun and shot the gunner with his revolver. Finally, after carrying several wounded men into safety, he was himself mortally wounded and died in a few minutes. His conduct throughout the day was magnificent."



The following is a part of a letter written by Lieutenant Howard Robinson, Carter's Company Commander to Kathleen Carter, Nelson's wife.



"When I last saw him he was close to the German line, acting as leader to a small party of four or five men. I was afterwards told that he had entered the German second line, and had brought back an enemy machine gun, having put the gun team out of action. I heard that he shot one of them with his revolver. I next saw him about an hour later ( I had been wounded in the meanwhile and was lying in our trench ). Your husband repeatedly went over the parapet. I saw him going over alone and carrying in our wounded men from 'No Man's Land'. He brought them in on his back, and he could not have done this had he not possessed exceptional physical strength as well as courage. It was in going over for the sixth or seventh time that the was shot through the chest. I saw him fall just inside our trench.
Somebody told me that about a month previously your husband carried a man about 400 yards across the open under machine gun fire and brought him safely into our trench. For this act I recommended him for the Military Cross. On every occasion, no matter how tight the hole we were in, he was always cheerful and hopeful, and never spared any pains to make the men comfortable and keep them cheery."

Colour Sergeant Nelson Carter is buried in the Royal Irish Rifles Churchyard, Laventie, France.

Welling up with pride and sadness. His VC was one of many gallantry awards won by Sussex men that day. They were our County's finest, and mere words cannot express the pride and gratitude I feel towards these men. Remember them each and every time we sing "Sussex by the Sea". God bless them all.......

Just came across this: Listen to the wraiths of morning in Flanders fields of grey/ Can you hear The Royal Sussex who came and went away?/ And linger still in graves unknown in the furrow and the thorn/ Yet did not flinch, duty done, these men of Sussex, bred and born.

Have just finished the late John A. Baines's meticulously-researched book "The Day Sussex Died", can recommend it for those who want the detail of Lowther's Lambs up to and including the Boar's Head diversionary attack and its appalling consequences. Available on Amazon again, after being hard to get hold of for a bit I think.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Robert Laurence Binyon 1869-1943