Samuel Frickleton
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Samuel Frickleton VC Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. |
A new plaque to Samuel Frickleton VC was unveiled in the Belgian town of Messines on June 7 this year, 90 years to the day since the coalminer from Blackball carried out the actions which won him the Commonwealth's highest award for bravery.
The plaque was unveiled by Mrs Annette King, New Zealand Minister of State Services, Minister of Police, Minister of Transport and Minister for Food Safety, following the 90th Commemorations of the Battle of Messines Ridge.
Two of Samuel Frickleton's grandchildren, Mrs Julia Tatam of Ongaonga, Waipukurau, Hawke's Bay, and Mr Mark Frickleton of Stokes Valley, Wellington, laid a wreath on the plaque. Sam Frickleton, aged 17, wore a replica of his great-grandfather's Victoria Cross medal group at the ceremony. The original is at the New Zealand Army Museum, Waiouru.
The RNZRSA also held a remembrance service at Samuel Frickleton's grave in the Taita Servicemen's Cemetery, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, where other family members were present.
Born in Scotland
Samuel Frickleton was a third-generation coalminer of mainly Scottish descent but with some Irish blood as well. Born on April 1, 1891, in the town of Slamannan, Stirlingshire, Scotland, he was the tenth of the 11 children of Samuel Stewart Frickleton and Elizabeth Logan. His grandfather, a miner, had moved to Scotland from County Armagh in Ireland.
After her husband's death in 1913, Samuel's mother and a number of the children emigrated to New Zealand, where they settled at a house in Clifford Street, Blackball, near Greymouth, on the West Coast. Samuel continued his work as a miner and was employed at the historic Blackball Mine.
Five brothers enlist
Five Frickleton brothers enlisted after war broke out and two were wounded at Gallipoli. Samuel, No. 6/2133, sailed for Egypt as a corporal in the Canterbury Battalion in June 1915. On arrival, however, he contracted tuberculosis and became so ill that he was returned to New Zealand and discharged as medically unfit in November.
Just five months later he enlisted again and this time sailed for England with the 15th Reinforcements. By late 1916 he was a Rifleman in the Third Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and en route from the UK for the battlefields of France. On September 28 that year one of his brothers, William Twaddle Frickleton, died on The Somme. His grave is at the Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz.
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Julia Tatam and Mark Frickleton, two of Samuel Frickleton's |
Attacks machine-guns
Samuel Frickleton's 3rd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade was near the right-hand side of the New Zealand attack but became pinned down on the ridge by intensive fire from several machine-gun posts in the second German defence line. With the machine gunners causing major casualties, including his company commander, Frickleton, already wounded in the arm, rallied his section and advanced through his own Allied artillery barrage to attack one of the machine-gun emplacements.
The confusion and noise caused by the barrage enabled the section to get within a few metres before being seen. Frickleton threw in a Mills bomb and then rushed the post, killing the enemy soldiers who had survived the grenade.
At this point, and with the remaining soldiers of his section providing covering fire, he turned his attention to another machine-gun post some 20 metres away and destroyed it. The New Zealand advance was able to continue and so too did Samuel Frickleton. He was wounded again, this time in the hip, before eventually being evacuated from the battlefield because he was suffering so severely from the effects of gas. His youngest brother was also wounded during the Messines attack and evacuated home.
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Mrs Annette King unveils the plaque commemorating |
On August 2, 1917, Samuel Frickleton's Victoria Cross was gazetted. The citation reads:
"Although slightly wounded, Lance Corporal Frickleton dashed forward at the head of his section, pushed into our barrage, and personally destroyed with bombs an enemy machine-gun and its crew which were causing heavy casualties.
"He then attacked the second gun, killing the whole of the crew of 12. By the destruction of these two guns he undoubtedly saved his own and other units from very severe casualties, and his magnificent courage and gallantry ensured the capture of the objective.
"During the consolidation of the position he received a severe second wound. He set, throughout, a great example of heroism."
Although some accounts place his actions further forward, his own brief story later told to a reporter from the Auckland Weekly News sites the first machine-gun emplacement at the church:
"A quiet reticent Scotsman, Lt Frickleton carries his honours with modesty. When seen by a reporter, he was unwilling to speak of the deeds which gained for him the honour but, when pressed to do so, he described a most stirring adventure in the most matter of fact way. It appears that he took nine men through the British barrage to attack a machine-gun which was occupying a dangerous position on top of a half ruined church. Six of them became casualties on the way. With the remaining three he bombed this gun, killing the surviving members of the crew with the bayonet.
"After they had thrown the gun down, another opened fire at a crossroads and they made their way through the houses toward it, another of the party falling. This gun crew was bombed and bayoneted and the heroic three then took refuge in a dugout to wait for the barrage to lift. "When we came out," said Lieutenant Frickleton, "we got 20 prisoners, who seemed to be rather pleased about it, and made our way back to where the battalion was digging in."
Officer Cadet at Cambridge
Samuel Frickleton returned to France in July 1917 but was once again evacuated because of the effects the gas was having on his health. Promoted to sergeant, he attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit at Trinity College, Cambridge.
According to his own account, it was here that he discovered just how badly his lungs had been affected. He had entered for a boxing contest and when weighed found that he had dropped from about 12 stone to 10 stone. An examination soon confirmed the reason. He, however, fought in the boxing contest and won it, receiving a silver cup. The gloves he wore are at the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru.
With his health increasingly a problem he was returned to New Zealand in a draft of invalids, arriving in mid-June to a welcome from the Mayor of Auckland. A little later he was in Christchurch, where a civic reception was held. "The function was held in the open and was attended by thousands of citizens who showed the greatest enthusiasm," the Auckland Weekly News reported. "The Mayor was the only speaker and his remarks were fervently cheered. Lieut Frickleton, who was given a tremendous reception, was carried shoulder high to his car amid the cheers of the crowd."
Volunteers for World War Two
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Sam Frickleton wearing |
According to In the Face of the Enemy he was retired on April 30, 1927, "with a miserly pension" of 47 pounds 10 shillings a year. In 1934 he joined the Territorial Army and in 1937 travelled to the UK along with other Victoria Cross holders as a member of the New Zealand Coronation contingent. He ceased Territorial service the same year only to volunteer again for service overseas when World War Two began in 1939. His application was rejected on medical grounds.
Despite his health problems, Samuel Frickleton lived to the age of 80. He died at Naenae, in the Hutt Valley, on September 6, 1971, and is buried at the Taita Serviceman's Cemetery.
His medal group, including the Victoria Cross, is held at the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru, along with a number of other items relating to his service.