Pte Herbert L Swan
02 August 1890 - 20 March 1968
Private H L Swan, Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R With Bar
Private Swan was from Routledge, near Farnham. He joined the Army on 17 June 1908 and served at Gibraltar, Bermuda and had eight months in South Africa before the outbreak of World War I. He went straight to France as a stretcher-bearer.
On 16 and 17 May 1915 at the Battle of Festubert, Private Swan and two fellow soldiers went over the trenches repeatedly, and without any orders, to rescue wounded Officers and men under very heavy shell and rifle fire. He showed the greatest bravery and determination and was awarded a D.C.M and Bar.
Private Swan’s children, who grew up in Richmond and used to pass the residents sitting outside the Richmond Home on their way to the Bandstand in Richmond Park most Sunday evenings, decided to sell their father’s four War Medals, including the Great War D.C.M. and dated Bar, in October 2010 and donated the substantial proceeds to The Royal Star & Garter Homes in memory of their father.