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2nd Lt. Joseph Henry Collin VC.
British Army 4th Btn King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
from:Harraby, Carlisle
(d.9th Apr 1918)
Joseph Henry Collin was awarded his commission on the 28th August 1917 He was the son of Joseph and Mary Collin (nee McDermont) of 8 Petteril Terrace, Harraby Carlisle, he was born 10th April 1893 in Jarrow.
He was 24 years old and a Second Lieutenant in the 1/4th Battalion King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment when he was awarded the VC for his actions on 9th April 1918 at Givenchy France.
Citation: For most conspicuous bravery, devotion to duty and self-sacrifice in action. After offering a long and gallant resistance against heavy odds in the Keep held by his platoon, this officer, with only five of his men remaining, slowly withdrew in the face of superior numbers, contesting every inch of the ground. The enemy were pressing him hard with bombs and machine-gun fire from close range. Single-handed 2nd Lt. Collin attacked the machine gun and team. After firing his revolver into the enemy, he seized a Mills grenade and threw it into the hostile team, putting the gun out of action, killing four of the team and wounding two others. Observing a second hostile machine gun firing, he took a Lewis gun, and selecting a high point of vantage on the parapet whence he could engage the gun, he, unaided, kept the enemy at bay until he fell mortally wounded. The heroic self-sacrifice of 2nd Lt. Collin was a magnificent example to all. (The London Gazette, 25 June 1918)
His Victoria Cross is displayed at The King's Own Royal (Lancaster) Regiment Museum, Lancaster from the 26th August 2006. The bronze memorial memorial plaque to Second Lieutenant Joseph Henry Collin VC of 4th Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment, was successfully bid for by the Regimental Museum at a recent auction in Carlisle. Thanks to public donations, the Museum fought off three other bidders to secure the plaque for £2500. It will now be displayed alongside Collin's VC.
Joseph is buried in Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery Lacouture and is commemorated in the Palmer Hospital in Jarrow.
