ANNAND, Richard W (#44)

30 August 2020

#44

Captain Richard W ‘Dickie’ ANNAND VC ERD DL

British Army

5 November 1914 – 24 December 2004

“Captain Dickie Annand, who died on Christmas Eve aged 90, won the Army’s first Victoria Cross of the Second World War when serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, in Belgium in May 1940.

Dickie Annand VC

On May 15, 2 DLI was in a defensive position on the south side of the River Dyle, east of Brussels, with battalion headquarters established in the ominously named village of La Tombe. The German assault began shortly after dawn. Annand’s platoon, in position astride a blown bridge, had beaten off a strong attack the previous night and was now facing the main thrust of an enemy determined to get across the river in strength.

At 11am, the enemy launched a violent attack and pushed forward a bridging parry into the sunken bottom of the river. Annand, then a Second Lieutenant, led a counter-attack against this group. When the ammunition ran out, he went forward himself over open ground with utter disregard for the mortar and machine-gun fire. Reaching the top of the ridge, he drove out the party below with hand grenades, inflicting more than 20 casualties. Although wounded in this action he rejoined his platoon, had his wounds dressed and carried on in command.

Dickie Annand VC

That evening, the Germans launched another assault and again Annand went forward armed with hand grenades and repelled it, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. His platoon sergeant said later: “Mr Annand came to me at platoon headquarters and asked for a box of grenades as they could hear Jerry trying to repair the bridge. Off he went and he sure must have given them a lovely time because it wasn’t a great while before he was back for more. Just like giving an elephant strawberries.”

At 11pm the order was given to pull back from the River Dyle and Annand withdrew the remnants of his platoon. There was no transport and anything that could not be carried had to be abandoned. In the early hours of May 16 Annand learned that his batman had been severely wounded and left behind. He returned at once to the original position and brought him back in a wheelbarrow before losing consciousness as a result of his wounds.

For two days Annand jolted through France in a Belgian hospital train without food or water. He no sooner arrived at the hospital in Calais than it had to be evacuated. He was put aboard the first of two hospital ships. The second was bombed and sank.

Annand was invested with the Victoria Cross by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on September 3 1940. Air raid warning sirens had been sounded shortly before the ceremony and the investiture was held inside the Palace instead of the quadrangle.

Richard Wallace Annand, always known as Dickie, was born on November 5 1914 at South Shields, County Durham. His father, Lt-Commander WM Annand, was killed at Gallipoli the following year. On leaving Pocklington School in East Yorkshire, Annand joined the National Provincial Bank for whom he worked first at South Shields and later in Rugby and London.

Statue of Dickie Annand VC on the grand staircase in South Shields Town Hall.

Annand had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and go into the Navy. In 1933, while at South Shields, he became a midshipman in the Tyne Division of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. In 1936, he was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant and attended a navigation course at Portsmouth and a gunnery course at Whale Island. In 1937 his application for a regular Navy commission was turned down because of his age. The following year he was gazetted Second Lieutenant in the supplementary reserve of The Durham Light Infantry.

Attached to the 2nd Battalion, The DLI, Annand landed in France in September 1939. As a result of wounds received in the action in Belgium in May 1940 he was invalided back to England but rejoined the re-formed Battalion at Bridlington the following month.

In June 1941, as a result of rifle practice on the ranges Annand lost what remained of his hearing and was discharged from the 2nd Battalion. In September he was appointed Instructor at the Commando Training Centre at Inverailort Castle, Inverness-shire.

In January 1942, Annand was posted to the Young Soldiers DLI Training Battalion at Brancepeth Castle, County Durham. In March he moved to Elgin as GS03, training the Home Guard. In December he was seconded to Gordonstoun School, then under the headmastership of Kurt Hahn, where he instructed the cadet force in pre-service training.

Annand married, in 1940, Shirley Osborne. They celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on November 9 2000. There were no children.

In July 1943 Annand was appointed Instructor at the Highland Fieldcraft Centre at Glenfeshie in the Cairngorms. In November he was posted to the War Office in Mayfair. He was offered a commission in the Pay Corps, but declined, and in 1948 he was invalided out of the Army.

In 1948, Annand became Personnel Officer at Finchale Abbey Training Centre for the Disabled, near Durham. Most of the rest of his life he devoted to helping the disabled.

Dickie Annand VC

After giving a speech in which he proposed a club for the hard of hearing, he was deluged with letters, and became a founder member of the British Association for the Hard of Hearing, which still exists as Hearing Concern. He also helped to set up the Durham County Association for the Disabled, where his role was more than administrative; he provided transport, often carrying members to his car. He also thought training the disabled little good without finding them work, and once loaded four tailors in his car and took them to London, where he found them jobs. He was president of his local branch of the British Legion, of the Dunkirk Veterans Association and of the St James’s Art Society for the Deafened.

In 1956 Annand became a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Durham and he was president of the Durham branch of the Light Infantry Club until 1998. In retirement his main recreation was golf.

: Second World War King’s crown cap badge, worn by all battalions of the Durham Light Infantry (plastic, economy version 1942–1945)

: Second World War shoulder title of the Durham Light Infantry (printed, economy version)

In February 1979, at the age of 64, Annand saved his wife from drowning in the River Tyne after the two of them had dined aboard Bacchante. The next day one local newspaper paper carried the headline: “War hero rescues wife from drowning.” Another had “Durham magistrate falls in Tyne after naval party”. Annand confined himself to the gentle observation that perhaps the reporting said more about the newspapers than about himself.

Annand married, in 1940, Shirley Osborne. They celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on November 9 2000. There were no children.” (Obituary courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)

: A gallery of wartime photos (of Annand teaching a class on the use of the Bren gun) taken shortly after Dickie Annand had won his VC. Captions on the reverse emphasise how embarrassed Dickie was to be photographed, and note a general aversion to publicity. All images are copyright the Imperial War Museums and can be found under their Collections.

Richard Wallace Annand’s medal group including his VC on display at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery, Imperial War Museum, London.

Imperial War Museum Oral History by Dickie Annand VC:

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1914-1939: family origins; father’s background and military service; effect of his father’s death at Gallipoli; education; membership of Officer Training Corps at Pocklington School; employment in bank; enlistment and training with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve from 1933; reason for transfer from bank in Rugby to one in City of London.

REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as officer on Army Supplementary Reserve with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1938-1939: reasons for enlisting with Army Supplementary Reserve; joining unit at Woking; memories of company commander Ambrose Appleby; opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Victor Yate; adapting to army customs; atmosphere in mess; question of officer qualities; weapons training at Bisley; opinion of revolvers and grenades; relations with other ranks in his platoon; studying for entrance exam to Royal Military College, Sandhurst; function of Army Supplementary Reserve. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry, 6th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in France, 9/1939-5/1940: rejoining battalion at Woking, GB, 9/1939; move to France, 25/9/1939; billeting in Cherbourg area; move to French/Belgian border, 10/1939; role of unit in construction of Gort Line; question of officers not digging trenches.

REEL 3 Continues: story of visit from brigadier whilst he was digging trench; character of billets; story of finding First World War letter written by German officer; commanding detachment digging underground Corps headquarters at Douai; leave in GB, 3/1940. Recollections of operations as officer with D Coy, 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry, 6th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 5/1940: patrol on eve of German attack at Douai, 9/5/1940; opening fire on German aircraft; lack of effect on morale of German air attacks; advance into Belgium to River Dyle; character of positions on River Dyle; deployment of unit on River Dyle.

REEL 4 Continues action for which he was awarded Victoria Cross visit to forward positions; arrival of German forces in area; unit counter-attack against German forces; performance of his platoon; under German mortar fire; platoon morale; memories of Sergeant Terry O’Neil; problems of communication under fire; wounding in arm and evacuation. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry, 6th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in GB, 1940-1941: rejoining unit at Bridlington, 7/1940; gazetting of award of Victoria Cross, 8/1940; background to leaving battalion due to hearing loss, 1941; role as instructor after leaving unit; degree of media attention received on winning Victoria Cross.