Edward Donald Bellew

Edward Donald Bellew (October 28, 1882, Bombay - February 1, 1961, Kamloops, British Columbia), Captain of the 7th Bn British Columbia Regiment, CEF was a 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.

He was 32 years old, and a Lieutenant in the 7th (1st British Columbia) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

Action

It was during the Second Battle of Ypres that a mass attack on the Canadian line developed on the morning of Saturday 24 April 1915 near Kerselaere, Belgium. The Canadians were suffering heavy casualties. The advance of the enemy was temporarily stayed by Lieutenant Bellew, the battalion machine-gun officer, who had two guns in action on high ground when the enemy's attack broke in full force. The reinforcements sent forward having been destroyed, and with the enemy less than convert|100|yd away and no further assistance in sight, Lieutenant Bellew and a Sergeant Peerless decided to fight it out. The sergeant was killed and Lieutenant Bellew wounded, nevertheless, he maintained his fire until his ammunition failed, when he seized a rifle, smashed his machine-gun and, fighting to the last, was taken prisoner. He remained a P.O.W. (Prisoner of war) until 1919. He died in 1961.

Further information

Second cousin of Robert Bellew Adams, VC.
Emigrated to Canada in 1907. He later achieved the rank of Captain.

The Award and Burial Site

Edward Bellew's Victoria Cross is believed to have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto, between January 1975 and 22 July 1977. The VC has never been recovered.
* [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/aastolen.htm Victoria Crosses reported stolen] Buried Hillside Cemetery, Kamloops, B.C.
* [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ggcanbrc.htm Known Graves of recipients of the Victoria Cross in British Columbia]

External links

* [http://www.legionmagazine.com/features/victoriacross/04-07.asp Legion Magzine article on Edward Donald Bellew]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7768642 Find-A-Grave profile for Edward Donald Bellew]

References

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*VCs of the First World War - The Western Front 1915 (Peter F. Batchelor & Christopher Matson, 1999)
*"On the Battlefields", From the archives of "Maclean's Magazine", Edited by Michael Benedict, Penguin Canada, 2002 ISBN 0-14-301341-6, page 96