The story of Pte. James Peter Robertson was well\u002Dknown in Peter Harris\u0027s family.
During the First World War, the Canadian soldier singlehandedly took out a German machine-gun nest at Passchendaele. He then led his unit to their objective before a shell killed him while he was trying to save a comrade.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Ottawa SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
The other two medals were awarded to 2nd Lt. Edmund De Wind and Sgt. Thomas William Holmes, the youngest Canadian to ever win a Victoria Cross, the British Empire’s highest decoration for bravery. On Nov. 6, 1917, Robertson and his unit were part of an attack on the ridge bearing the Passchendaele name. As a cold drizzle fell, a German machine-gun ripped into the Canadians, who were unable to advance due to a wall of uncut barbed wire.Article content
“He was the famous war hero of the family,” said Harris, whose mother has a replica of the Victoria Cross as well as a picture of herself at Robertson’s grave and a copy of the newspaper article announcing his exploits. “So it was a well-known story to us.”Article content “We got it out of his safety-deposit box and we started thinking about it,” he said. “Mom remembered that she promised my grandmother that if it ever left the family, it would have to go to the Canadian War Museum.”
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