Donald Dean VC: The Memoirs of a Volunteer & Territorial from Two World Wars

Donald Dean lied about his age to enlist in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1915 and serve on the Western Front, where he worked his way up from Private to acting Captain. Severely wounded at Passchendaele in 1917, Dean's account of the battle for 'Tower Hamlets' is a gripping account of the horror of trench warfare. Recovered from his wounds, it was in the last weeks of the war, late in September 1918, that Dean won his VC for leading a platoon in the determined defence of a recently-captured and isolated trench against repeated German counterattacks. In one of these attacks, the Germans actually broke into the trench, forcing Dean to break off a call for artillery support with the words, 'The Germans are here, goodbye!' Refusing to be overrun, he personally killed four of the Germans and the position was held.Dean also served in World War II as a senior officer in the Pioneer Corps. He witnessed the fall of France in 1940 and claimed to be the last British soldier to escape from Boulogne. His frank account of the evacuation challenges some cherished conceptions and is very critical of the conduct of the Welsh Guards in particular. Dean describes his distinguished service in Madagascar, Sicily and the Italian mainland up to and beyond the German surrender. When he died in 1985, Colonel Dean was the longest surviving recipient of the Victoria Cross from the Trenches.Terry Crowdy was granted complete access to Dean's private letters and diaries, never previously published, adding additional notes and material from official reports to give the reader context. The result is a moving, often amusing and inspiring portrait of a hero of two world wars.