b. 05/04/1878 Newton Abbot, Devon. d. 16/11/1940 Lympne, Kent.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 22/10/1916 Ostrevo, Serbia.
Lewis C Bearne DSO AM
Lewis Collingwood Bearne was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, and was educated at Newton College. His parents were Lewis Edward and Ada Louise Bearne (nee Symons). He had three sisters. He enlisted in time to serve in the Second Boer War in South Africa, firstly in Lumsden’s Horse, then with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He was commissioned in the DCLI on 27th July 1901. He then transferred to the Army Service Corps in October 1902. In 1905, he married Violet Hettie Rogers in Farnham, Surrey, and they went on to have four children: Sydney, Colin, Guy and Winifred Jayne.
In World War I, he was mentioned in despatches three times, and awarded both the DSO (London Gazette 18th February 1915) and the Albert Medal. The incident which saw the award of the Albert Medal also saw him presented with the Order of White Eagle 4th Class (Serbia). After the war, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, before retiring in 1929. He died in Kent in 1940.
AM CITATION:
On the 22nd October, 1916, a French motor lorry, loaded with 3,000 Ibs. of aeroplane bombs, caught fire in the middle of a camp of the Serbian Army. Efforts to beat out the flames with earth proved ineffectual, and, after the fire had been burning for seven or eight minutes, and the bomb cases were already involved, Major Bearne and Private Usher ran up with extinguishers. Both immediately crawled underneath the lorry, and eventually succeeded in extinguishing the flames, thus averting a serious disaster at the risk of their own lives. Major Bearne was severely burnt about the hands and arms.
BURIAL LOCATION: ST STEPHENS CHURCHYARD, LYMPNE, KENT.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: ROYAL LOGISTICS CORPS MUSEUM, CAMBERLEY, SURREY.
Acknowledgement:
Terry Hissey – Image of Bearne’s medals at the RLC Museum.