Article 1:

War Hero's Medal Goes to Auction

A Birmingham First World War hero's Victoria Cross is due to fetch £38,000 at auction next month.

Cpl Alfred Wilcox took on four German machine gun nests, resorting to hand-to-hand fighting and using the enemy's grenades when his own gun jammed during the act of heroism in 1918.

Born in Aston in 1884, he joined the Royal Warwickshire Volunteer Battalion in 1905 but he fought in the trenches of Northern france throughout the Great War with the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment.

In September 1918, less than three months before the end of the war, he led an attack near Laventie against an enemy position - The Junction Post - which was heavily guarded by machine gun nests.

In charge of the leading section, he cut the enemy wire to locate the enemy positions. But when he returned to his men all but one had been wounded.

Bayoneted

Undaunted, he took the one fit soldier with him on a raid of the enemy lines. He captured one gun by blasting his way through with hand grenades and took the second post after he bayoneted a machine gunman following a hand-to-hand fight.

The corporal continued his assault, taking the third gun in another grenade attack, killing five German soldiers.

His own rifle then became jammed but he managed to capture the final position by using the German's own stick grenades which he had seized.

In his almost single-handed attack Cpl Wilcox killed a dozen German soldiers.

In a regimental gathering after the war, he summed up the heroic battle.

"I saw a lot of square-heads, as I call 'em, in front of me, and I was after 'em. If I hadn't been after 'em they'd have been after me, and I used more language than the British Army ever learnt."

He was wounded just nine days before the Armistice and was discharged from the Army in May 1919.

The Victoria Cross is being sold by a private collector, who wished to remain anonymous, by London auctioneers Spink on April 27.

Article 2:

War Hero's VC is Sold for £55,000

A Victoria Cross won by a Birmingham hero in the First World War has fetched more than £55,000 at auction.

Cpl Alfred Wilcox was awarded the prestigious medal in 1917 for his gallantry while serving in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment on the Western Front.

He led the attack on an enemy position known as the Junction Post and despite losing all his men he captured four guns.

Highest

The medal was sold to a private buyer at an auction in London and exceeded its reserve price by £17,000.

David Erskine-Hill, medal specialist for auctioneers Spink, said it was probably one of the highest prices paid for a Victoria Cross.

He said: "It reflects the tremendous interest being shown in the First World War at the moment. VC medals often go for high price s because of their unique history and the heroic stories behind them."

Meanwhile, a grand-daughter of Cpl Wilcox was hoping the auction of the medal would reunite her with her lost relatives.

Elaine Read never met her grandfather after the family was torn apart following the war, but hoped publicity surrounding yesterday's sale would help her trackdown her relatives.

Mrs. Read, from Nottingham, said: "I have always wanted to find out what happened, and find out if I have any aunts, uncles, or cousins. I have senta letter, via the auctioneer, to the owner in the hope it will lead to something."

Cpl Wilcox was born in Aston in 1884 and joined the Royal Warwickshire Volunteer Battalion in 1905 but fought in the trenches with the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment. He died in Birmingham in March 1951.