Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.
The February issue of the magazine has a two-page write-up on the life and bravery of Acting Captain George Henry Tatham Paton VC, MC, who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for outstanding bravery during the Great War.
Paton, who was born in Innellan, near Dunoon, Argyllshire, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles) on October 1 1914 – two days before his 19th birthday.
He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for bravery on the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium in August 1917.
Then he was awarded the VC for gallantry at the Battle of Cambrai in France in November 1917. After personally removing several wounded men from the battlefield, he led his men from the front against four enemy counter-attacks. He was fatally wounded and died, aged 22. His VC was announced on February 12 1918.
Lord Ashcroft’s articles for Britain at War over the past five years have been largely based on excerpts from his six books on gallantry: Victoria Cross Heroes, Special Forces Heroes, George Cross Heroes, Heroes of the Skies, Special Ops Heroes and Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II.
For the foreseeable future, Lord Ashcroft’s “hero of the month” articles will concentrate on men who were awarded the VC during the First World War. Lord Ashcroft is a military historian who has lectured extensively on courage and his various medal collections.
- Lord Ashcroft’s latest article appears in the February issue of Britain at War which is on sale now.