Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson

Infobox Military Person
name=Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson
lived=birth date|1883|12|16 – death date and age|1954|04|09|1883|12|16


caption=Victoria Cross
nickname=
placeofbirth=Mount Carmel, Illinois
placeofdeath=Mount Carmel, Illinois
allegiance=Canada
branch=Canadian Corps
serviceyears=
rank=Captain (OF-2)
unit=75th (Mississauga) Battalion
commands=
battles=First World War
awards=Victoria Cross Military Cross
relations=
laterwork=

Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson VC, MC (16 December 1883, Mount Carmel, Illinois - 9 April 1954, Mount Carmel, Illinois), was an American (also considered Canadian) recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Hutcheson was one of seven Canadians to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 2 September 1918. The other six Victoria Cross recipients were Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, William Metcalf, John Francis Young, Walter Leigh Rayfield, Cyrus Wesley Peck and Arthur George Knight.

Hutcheson was a graduate of Northwestern University Medical School. In 1915 he renounced his United States citizenship in order to join the Canadian Army as a medical officer. He reclaimed his American citizenship after the war.

He was 34 years old, and a captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Canadian Expeditionary Force, attached to 75th (Mississauga) Battalion, C.E.F. during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 2 September 1918 in France, Captain Hutcheson went through the Drocourt-Quéant Support Line with his battalion, remaining on the field until every wounded man had been attended to. He dressed the wounds of a seriously hurt officer under terrific machine-gun and shell fire, and with the help of prisoners and his own men succeeded in evacuating the officer to safety. Immediately afterwards he rushed forward in full view of the enemy to attend a wounded sergeant and having placed him in a shell-hole, dressed his wounds.

External links

* [http://www.barmy.co.uk/ramc/hutcheson.htm Captain B.S. Hutcheson]
* [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ww1can/hutch.htm Canadian Great War Homepage: Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson]
* [http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/index.php/2005/11/the-magnificent-seven/ Legion Magazine-The Magnificent Seven]