"Foresters" V.C. recipients during the Zulu War (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, December 28, 2014, 17:07 (3458 days ago) @ Jefff

Thanks Roger for your interesting posts. Yes you're right of course re the film and it's makers. One thing has clearly changed over the years, perhaps not for the better except for realism, the film has a notable lack of gore when depicting the brutal hand-to-hand combat. Despite this when I first saw the film as a lad I felt it very unfair on the relatively-unarmed Zulus against modern rifles, I then found a book in Cinderford library to learn the facts. Perhaps if I'd also seen the later film "Zulu Dawn", based on the massive defeat the Zulus had inflicted on the British Army a few hours before Rorke's Drift, then my youthfull sense of fairplay would have been more balanced ? - not to mention learning that our modern weapons did not work as well as they were supposed to, a recurring theme into WW1, on land and at sea.... a sore point for me given my pride at British engineering achievements and my own subsequent career working with the Services.
Of course it must not be forgotten, the Zulus were merely defending their own land against an invasion...

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Reviewing all twenty-three recipients of V.C.s during the Zulu War, four of these brave men are from our general area; the aforementioned Alfred Hooke, the two (unrelated) Jones' who fought alongside each other in one of the hospital rooms at Rorke's Drift, and also John Williams from Abergavenny, another Borderer. Williams fought alongside Alfred Hooke within the Hospital at Rorke's Drift.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(VC)

Of course many other soldiers fought and even died in this War, including at least one other Forester, Courtney FROWEN of Newland, this prior thread refers;
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35386

(Roger, I note with interest you term the modern Regiment "the Royal Welsh" - I typed this last night before bowing to Wiki and re-typing "Royal Regiment of Wales", which in my opinion still doesn't sound correct !)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zulu_War_Victoria_Cross_recipients