Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Serjeant W. W. Hogben, 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL, G.V.R. (11053 Sjt., 2/R.W. Fus); 1914 STAR (Pte.); BRITISH WAR and VICTORY MEDALS (Cpl.) together with an original typeset letter from the battalion medical officer to the recipient's father, and a condolence slip, good very fine (4)

D.C.M., London Gazette, 17 April 1918. 'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has carried out his duties in a most gallant and efficient manner during a very long period and he has always shown great courage and resource.’

The following extract was taken from 'The War the Infantry Knew. 2nd Bn. R. Welsh Fusiliers, 1914-18,' (September 1917): 'Next I went to the Aid Post. The Staff had settled in a bit of a trench behind our line of deployment; it was probably a relic of Oct-Nov. 1914 because digging had revealed a rusted rifle barrel. When I got near Sergeant Hogben shouted 'Look out' and pointed to the Fokker which was coming around for the second time. It was not a hundred feet up, and fewer yards away by then. 'Get down,' he shouted again, 'the bloody thing's hit me.' Very soon he was showing me the nose of a German bullet sticking out betwwen two of his ribs in front. He was sure the German airman had hit him, although the airman never seemed to fire, and he had no notion that the bullet had come through from his back. It had most probably been fired from Solderhoek. He did not feel ill but septic pneumonia set in ten days later and he died close to Beachy Head.' In his letter to Serjeant Hogben's father, the battalion medical officer wrote: 'I will always remember him with respect for his conduct at High Wood on July 20th, 1916, for he stayed at duty after being wounded, when the great majority of his fellows would have sought the respite of the Field Ambulance.'