The Bravest Man in the British Army: The Extraordinary Life and Death of John Sherwood Kelly By Philip Bujak
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Today a new major joined us a Herculean giant of South African origin with a quite remarkable disregard for danger _The Regimental Diary of The Kings Own Scottish Borderers July 1915_ Brave as a lion stubborn as a mule and as quick tempered as his Irish forebears Kelly VC spoke out about Churchill s support of the White Russians in 1919 This is a well researched and lively read and brings to our attention an early Churchill folly _Keith Simpson_ John Jack Sherwood Kelly VC CMG DSO 1880 1931 was a formidable soldier He fought in British colonial campaigns in the early 1900s distinguished himself during the First World War at Gallipoli the Somme and Cambrai and after the war was involved in the British campaign in northern Russia in support of the White Russians During his military career he achieved fame and notoriety for his mixture of heroic exploits and explosive temperament In this meticulously researched and vivid biography Jake B Liphuip tells Sherwood Kellys story and gives a fascinating insight into one of the most remarkable and controversial military men of the period Kelly had a combat record going back to the 1896 Matabele Revolt He was awarded the DSO for his exploits in Gallipoli in 1916 During 1917 he commanded 1st Battalion the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was instrumental in the early success achieved during the Battle of Cambrai for which he was awarded the VC His later service during the British intervention against the Bolsheviks in 1919 ended in court martial and a highly publicized clash with Winston Churchill The Bravest Man in the British Army The Extraordinary Life and Death of John Sherwood Kelly
John Sherwood Kelly aged 51 died in August 1931 and was almost lost to history Philip Bujak had other ideas however and has written Kelly s biography This was no ordinary man or even soldier but the bravest man in the British Army argues Bujak and he sets out to prove it Jack Kelly was born in South Africa in 1878 the son of a hero and invested from an early age with a righteous sense of justice two traits that would exemplify his character in the challenges to come His innate rebelliousness also shaped his life Kelly joined the Independent Light Horse for the Boer War where he earned his commission and his first medals for bravery He then fought in Somaliland in 1902 and against the Zula Bambatta uprising in 1905 In 1913 he sailed with his brother Ted to fight in Ireland which put him in the right place for a soldier when the Great War started a year later They both joined the King Edward s Horse as lieutenants then transferred to the 12th Norfolk Yeomanry But it was as part of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers that Jack ended up at Gallipoli in 1915 where he was wounded and gassed won the DSO and ended up in temporary command of his battalion. The bravest man in the british army today The massive South African proved adept at trench warfare and earned the sobriquet Bomb Kelly demonstrating that he was still soldier than British officer On his return he married but was soon on his way to the Western Front and the Somme Offensive this time with an Irish regiment the Inniskillings Kelly was severely wounded in that battle but after convalescing in South Africa Kelly returned to active duty He was wounded again in July 1917 but fought in the Battle of Cambrai leading the charge but then his lungs collapsed and he was on his way back to Blighty He had also won the Victoria Cross he so coveted The Great War wasn t enough for the great South African and he was soon on his way to fight in the Russian Civil War leaving his messy domestic troubles behind he had a passionate affair that produced a child though his wife stood by him until the end But trouble than just war lay ahead In Russia Kelly led from the front as usual but he recognised the hopelessness of the mission and he fell foul of his commander Major General Ironside He accused Kelly of insubordination and worse and finally relieved Kelly of his command Humiliated Kelly went home then went to the Press or someone did in Kelly s name He also made an enemy of Winston Churchill and soon found out that war was his game not politics Kelly was reprimanded at his subsequent court martial Peacetime did not suit Kelly He suffered from his wounds and encountered money problems He ran for MP and lost but he competed in sports at his local clubs and won He helped build a road in Bolivia but that turned into a fiasco When Kelly came home in 1928 he was very ill He made one final trip to Egypt in 1930 and died a year after his return. Book the bravest man in the british army uk Bujak has written an absorbing biography of an undoubtedly brave soldier but a deeply flawed man Like many biographers Bujak tends to tell you everything about his subject He also struggles with a lack of evidence about who Jack Kelly really was outside of his military and civil record What happens then is that the subject occasionally gets subsumed into the background Nevertheless Bujak draws the reader into Kelly s life he is such a fascinating character that you want to know about him and you cannot help but judge him for good and bad As for being the bravest man in the British army Perhaps he was but he was also reckless and if you distrust heroes you will distrust Kelly It is worth the journey through this book to find out 199 A fascinating biography of Lt Col Sherwood Kelly VC DSO CMG and a very readable account of his life story. The bravest man in the british army epub ebook download I was however disappointed with several aspects of his writing of minor irritation was the inaccuracies in historical detail 1 He talked about the Christmas tin gift box in 1916 when they were only given out in 1914. The bravest man in the british army today 4 Was he the bravest man in the British Army Was it a label given to him by others other than the author is not clear He was undoubtedly brave but as the author takes great pains his Bravery was often akin to recklessness and foolhardiness. Book the bravest man in the british army uk My major criticism is held for his amateur psychology psychiatry in that he tries to link any character defects and Kelly s behaviour with the death of his mother at an early age and sadly leaves the reader or this reader in disagreement He endeavours to link Churchill and other characters with Kelly with such statements that they were in the same vicinity and may have met yet goes on to postulate and hypothesise that it was a fact. The bravest man in the british army book summary Other than the criticism above I would strongly recommend the book to anyone wanting to add colour to the story of Kelly and learn about a remarkable individual who did than his fair share of service for Britain even though born in South Africa 199.