Campbell, Frederick William Victoria Cross Recipient

Campbell, Frederick William (1867-1915). Born in Mount Forest, Ontario, Campbell was eighteen when he joined the local militia, the 30th Batallion Wellington Rifles. Fourteen years later Campbell went to war against the Boers. On August 4, 1914, the former soldier once again answered the call to arms and on September 24, 1914, Captain Campbell sailed for England. At Givenchy, France, while serving with the 1st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Campbell was awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in holding back the enemy's counter-attack. By firing about one thousand rounds from a machine gun mounted on the back of Harold Vincent, a sturdy lumberjack turned soldier, Campbell dispersed the enemy's initial counter-attack. Vincent, badly burned from the heat of the gun, survived. Campbell, wounded in action, died four days later.

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