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Note: N8166 I'd like to nominate my great uncle Frank Vans Agnew as an unsung hero. Not for the Military Cross he won at Messines in 1917, nor for the fact that he got himself transferred to the Tank Corps because he wasn't getting enough action as a bomb-thrower in the trenches.
Not for his incredibly varied career: by the time he joined up in 1915, he had already been a farmer, a vet, a farrier in Roosevelt's Rough Riders (the USA v Mexico war; an assayist in a gold mine in the Rocky Mountains and then in a copper mine in Kazakhstan, and the Postmaster of Kissimmee, Florida.
Not for the fact that when their parents died, he took on the care and up-bringing of my father and his sister, and returned from the South of France to live in England to look after them , something that had a huge influence on my father's life.
Frank was a hero because when he came home from Florida to enlist in early 1915, he was already 47 years old and had to lie about his age to get into the army.
The thought of doing that? It's just awful isn't it? What a man!
2019
Rumblebelly
Brigand W2
07-Jun-17 – "B" Bttn, 5 Coy, B24, 2Lt Vans-Agnew F W2 - in action, rallied W22
4-Jul-17 - "B" Bttn - Tank ran over obstacle course during visit of HM King George V W2 Photographed X8.p3; WD number visible on copy of this photograph on p8 of "The Tank Story" Bovington Tank Museum 2010 Guide Book .
25-Jul-17 - "B" Bttn, 5 Coy, 5 sec, B24, "Brigand", 2Lt Kins-Agnew F W2 – List in War Diary, date approximate.
31-Jul-17 – "B" Bttn, 5 Coy, B24, 2Lt Vans-Agnew F W2 - in action, rallied W22
10-Aug-17 - Tank moved to Ouderdom for CW. W2
5 Company had 12 tanks in action on 31st July 1917 (W22):
5 Section Capt Dudgeon EB
B22, 2037, m, “Buccaneer”, 2Lt Crerar A,
B23, 2700, f, “Bandit”, Lt Simpson W,
B24, 2019, m, “Brigand”, Lt Vans Agnew F
B25, 2663, f, “Barbarian”, 2Lt Brockwell S.A.,
8040
Bandit II S37
24-sep-17 – B bttn - From CW to 5 Coy W2
04-Nov-17 – B bttn - Demonstrated crossing trench with Fascines to watching infantry W2
20-Nov-17 – B bttn, 5 coy, 5 sec, B23, Lt Dalby AA - in action, rallied WMH
23-Nov-17 – B bttn, 5 coy, 5 sec, B23, Lt Dalby AA - in action, Hit and KO WMH
30-Nov-17 – B bttn – 8040, B23 - Handed over to Salvage. In enemy territory. Fontaine. W2a
Photographed after capture by Germans: Bild 146-1982-031-31A, X78
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1982-031-31A,_Frankreich,_britischer_Beutepanzer.jpg
Photographed in German Workshops: X74.p55
5 Company - Company Commander Major Henshall, 2IC Capt Diamond MV
5 Section. Capt Vans Agnew F MC
B21, 2864, f, "Bedouin", 2Lt Law RM
B23, 8040, m, "Bandit II", Lt Dalby AA
B35, 4589, f, "Bogey II", 2Lt Brockwell SA
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