guished himself, and he was among the earliest
recipients of the order of valour. He received also the Cross of the
Legion of Honour from the Emperor of the French for the following brave
action:--
On the 8th of September 1855 he was among the foremost at the desperate
attack on the Redan, and one of the very few who reached the ditch at
the re-entering angle. Finding that Lieutenant Dyneley, adjutant of the
regiment, for whom he had a great regard, had not returned, he
immediately set forward by himself to search for him, exposed to the hot
fire of the enemy, who, although they must have known that he was on an
errand of mercy, continually aimed at him. After searching for some
time, he found his young officer on the ground, desperately wounded,
behind a rock, which somewhat sheltered him from the enemy's fire.
Stanching the flow of blood as well as he could, he endeavoured to lift
him on his back to carry him to the trenches, but the pain of being
lifted in that way was more than Mr Dyneley could bear. Reluctantly he
was compelled to relinquish the attempt; and hurrying back to the
trenches, he entreated one of the medical officers to render the young
officer assistance. His appeal was not made in vain. Without
hesitation, the brave Assistant--Surgeon Sylvester, always ready at the
call of humanity, volunteered to accompany him. Together they passed
across the hailstorm of bullets the Russians were incessantly sending
from their walls, when the surgeon knelt down and dressed the wounds of
his brother officer, and did all that he could to alleviate his
sufferings. Unwillingly they quitted him that they might obtain more
succour; and in the evening Captain Drew and other volunteers
accompanied Corporal Shields, who then for the third time braved the
bullets of the enemy, and together they brought in the young lieutenant.
Unhappily, his wound was mortal, and he died that night. While
praising the brave corporal, we must not forget the heroism of the young
surgeon. For this action Corporal Shields was rewarded with a
commission.
Major Gerald Littlehales Goodlake, Coldstream Guards, gained the
Victoria Cross for his gallantry on several occasions. A number of the
best marksmen in each regiment had been selected to act as
sharpshooters. With a party of these he set forth, on a night in
November 1854, towards a fort at the bottom of the Windmill ravine,
where a picket of the enemy were stationed. Approaching
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