Ross Tollerton

Ross Tollerton, a private in The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, British Army, earned the Victoria Cross at the young age of twenty-four. The Victoria Cross is the absolute highest medal that any British soldier can receive, and Ross Tollerton truly earned this honor. Believing in his cause, Tollerton did the unthinkable – he carried a wounded soldier amidst heavy gunfire to safe ground during the Battle of the Aisne in France. But Tollerton wasn’t able to escape unscathed, he was terribly wounded in the head and elsewhere on his body, wounds bad enough that most soldiers would have stayed hidden in the woods, but the military doesn’t award the highest honor possible without just cause. Tollerton returned to the front lines in order to help his battalion win the fight, but his courage did not stop there. After his battalion had finished fighting for the day, Tollerton returned to wait with the wounded officer that he had originally rescued. Thankfully, both Tollerton and the officer were rescued three days later.

Unfortunately for Tollerton, the injuries that he sustained while rescuing members of his battalion could not be completely healed, and he suffered throughout his short life. Although he eventually left the army to marry and to seek a regular occupation (as a janitor), Tollerton’s bravery could not ward off death. This brave hero died of stomach cancer at the young age of forty-one. Because Tollerton’s wife and son saw the war hero that this man was until the end of his days, they generously donated his highest honor to his battalion’s own museum. For those that wish to understand more of what this courageous man accomplished throughout his military career, Tollerton’s Victoria’s Cross is permanently on display at the Cameron’s Own Highland Museum in Inverness-Shire, Scotland.

Labels: battle of aisne, war heroes