Down by the docks of the city of Victoria, B.C., you may observe a man
who keeps a fruit stall and wears about an inch of dark red ribbon on
his left breast. That fruit vendor is Michael James O'Rourke, late of
the 7th Canadian Battalion; and the inch of dark red ribbon means that
he has won the Victoria Cross.
O'Rourke gained the decoration when he was a stretcher-bearer in the 7th
Battalion during the big attack on the German positions near Lens which
began on the 15th August, 1917, and continued for several days.
At 4.25 on that morning the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Canadian Brigades
attacked and captured Hill 70 and the German defences about Cité St.
Laurent. In conjunction with this operation a gas attack was
successfully launched in the Avion sector and a subsidiary attack west
of Lens.
The opening of the main operation was no surprise to the enemy.
Prisoners taken during the attack admitted that they had expected it and
had been "standing-to" for a fortnight in anticipation; and orders which
were captured confirmed this statement, for they contained elaborate
instructions in the method of procedure to be adopted when the attack
was launched.
Two hours before the advance began that summer morning the Germans were
sending streams of gas shells into the district around Maroc and the
Lens-Béthune road, while a 5.9 howitzer was playing on Loos at intervals
of five minutes.
When our barrage opened the 7th Battalion went forward and formed up in
No Man's Land in the rear of the 10th Battalion which was to capture the
front German line. At first there was a slight mix-up of battalions
owing to enemy fire, but before long, though only after heavy fighting,
the objectives were gained with the exception of the centre where our
men were held up by machine-gun fire from Cité St. Auguste and the
brickworks. In time, however, reinforcements arrived and that obstacle
was removed.
For three days the fighting was the fiercest the Canadian battalions had
up till then experienced. The Germans were in no mood to give up their
positions without stubborn resistance and the struggle ebbed and flowed
day and night with bitter violence. On the front on which the 2nd
Division attacked many Germans held out in small parties hidden in
ruined houses and in deep cellars until cleared out by bomb and bayonet,
while counter-attack after counter-attack was thrown against the
battalions which had succeeded in clearing the German trenches.
With the 7th Battalion were sixteen stretcher-bearers, including
O'Rourke. Out of that sixteen, two were killed and eleven were wounded,
for the Germans sniped at them as they worked to carry the wounded from
the field. During those three days and nights O'Rourke worked
unceasingly rescuing the wounded, dressing their injuries under fire and
bringing food and water to them. The area in which he worked was
continually subjected to the severest shelling and was frequently swept
by machine-gun and rifle fire.
Several times he was knocked down and partially buried by shell-bursts.
Once, seeing a comrade who had been blinded stumbling along in full view
of the enemy who were sniping at him, O'Rourke jumped out of the trench
and brought him in, being himself heavily sniped at while doing so.
Again he went forward about fifty yards in front of our barrage, under
very heavy fire from machine-guns and snipers, and brought in another
wounded man; and later, when the advanced posts retired to the line, he
braved a storm of enemy fire of every description and brought in a
wounded man who had been left behind.
It was for these acts, in which he showed an absolute disregard for his
own safety, that O'Rourke gained the highest award--one of the
comparatively few men who have been given the Victoria Cross in this war
for saving life under fire.
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