“He organized counter-attacks and led his men in throwing bombs at the
vastly superior force of the enemy. Standing on the parapet of the
trench, fully exposed to the enemy, Woolley hurled bomb after bomb.
His men urged him to seek shelter, but he refused. For some time this
amazing contest continued, a handful of British against thousands of
Germans. But this little band of heroes by their superb bravery, led
by a hero, kept the enemy at bay. When welcome relief eventually came,
the company of 150 men had been thinned to 20-14 Territorials and 6
Regulars, a pathetic proof of the dauntless fight put up by those men.”
The second hero of Hill 60 is one of the most popular medal winners
of the war. Lance-Corporal Edward Dwyer at the time he obtained
the coveted decoration was only eighteen years old, and had been a
green-grocer’s assistant before the war.
“This boy hero took the public imagination by storm, and with the
possible exception of Sergeant O’Leary, no V.C. was more noticed on his
return to England. He received enough hero-worship to last a lifetime.
When home on leave Dwyer was bombarded by the attentions of admirers,
kissed by women in the streets, and, as he confessed, subjected to
greater trials than on the bomb-swept slopes of Hill 60.”