05/29/2026
Edward Bellew, VC, 7th Battalion CEF
🚨 He fought his machine gun until the bullets ran out. He smashed it so the Germans couldn't use it. He spent three years as a prisoner of war. When he came home, he found out he'd won the Victoria Cross. 🚨
Near Keerselare, Belgium. April 24, 1915. The Second Battle of Ypres.
The deadly chlorine gas had come two days before and shattered the Allied lines. The ground on either side of Lieutenant Edward Bellew's machine gun section had been completely abandoned — the units that should have been there were gone, overwhelmed, retreated, or dead.
Bellew and Sergeant-Major Hugh Rogers were still there. And the Germans were coming.
They fired. They kept firing. The belts fed through, the barrel boiled, and the Germans came in waves. The gun single-handedly stopped the advance.
But eventually — and this was always the brutal arithmetic of that war — the ammunition ran completely dry.
The enemy rushed the position, closing to within 15 yards. In the final chaotic moments, Sergeant-Major Rogers was killed. Bellew was left entirely alone.
He looked at the advancing Germans, then down at his useless gun. He picked up a rifle and smashed the machine gun to pieces.
It wasn't a symbolic gesture. It was a cold, practical choice. If he couldn't use it to defend his men, the enemy wasn't going to use it to kill them. Moments later, he was overpowered and taken prisoner.
He would spend the next three years in German captivity, completely unaware that a Victoria Cross had been recommended for his defiance.
Meet Captain Edward Donald Bellew — born April 27, 1882, in Bombay, India, who moved to British Columbia as a young man. Serving with the 7th Battalion CEF (1st British Columbia Regiment), he holds the unique distinction of being one of the few Canadians to receive the Victoria Cross after spending nearly the entire war in an enemy prison camp. 🍁
The 7th Battalion was holding the line during the nightmare of Second Ypres — the infamous battle where Germany used poison gas at scale for the first time. When the units on his flanks collapsed under the pressure, Bellew's position became an isolated dot on a broken map.
He had two choices: withdraw or stay. He stayed.
For three long years, Bellew was shifted between German POW camps. Meanwhile, the paperwork for his Victoria Cross moved through military channels he had zero access to. The citation was confirmed. The award was gazetted. He knew nothing about it.
It wasn't until he finally arrived back home in British Columbia after the 1918 Armistice that the news found him. The men who survived that terrible morning had documented his actions, sending the story up the chain of command until it reached the King.
In 1920 — five full years after he smashed his gun in a Belgian field — Edward Bellew stood before King George V to receive the highest decoration in the Empire.
He went on to live a quiet life in BC, passing away on February 1, 1961, in Kamloops.
He fought his gun dry and broke it rather than surrender it. The action took minutes; the recognition took five years. Some things take time, but the bravery happened exactly when Canada needed it most. 🇨🇦
Did you know about Edward Bellew? Drop a 🍁 in the comments and share this post so his story is never forgotten. 👇
