VC Action: Henry John Andrews VC
MBE (1873 - 22 October 1919) was about 48 years old, and a
Temporary Captain in the Indian Medical Service, British Indian
Army during the Waziristan Campaign, India when the following
deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
The Waziristan Campaign was a native rising
in the Northwest Provinces of British India, on what is now
the Pakistan border with Afghanistan. The area is extremely
rugged and desolate, and the Waziris had resisted British
attempts at control for decades.
In 1919-1920 they took advantage of an Afghan
incursion into India to raise a revolt of their own. What
made the uprising different from previous native revolts in
India was that many of the Waziris were veterans of the British
Indian Army from World War I and were familiar with modern
tactics and weapons.
On, the 22nd October, 1919 when, as Senior
Medical Officer in charge of Khajuri Post (Waziristan), he
heard that a convoy had been attacked in the vicinity of the
post, and that men had been wounded. He at once took out an
Aid Post to the scene of action and, approaching under heavy
fire, established an Aid Post under conditions which afforded
some protection to the wounded but not to himself. Subsequently
he was compelled to move his Aid Post to another position,
and continued most devotedly to attend to the wounded. Finally,
when a Ford van was available to remove the wounded, he showed
the utmost disregard of danger in collecting the wounded under
fire and in placing them in the van, and was eventually killed
whilst himself stepping into the van on the completion of
his task.
He was also awarded an MBE. |
