{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Multiple issues| {{Cleanup rewrite|date=July 2022}} {{One source|date=July 2022}} }} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox military person |name=Robert Grierson Combe |birth_date=5 August 1880 |death_date=3 May 1917 (aged 36) |image= Robert Grierson Combe.jpg |caption= |nickname= |birth_place=[[Aberdeen]], Scotland |death_place=Near [[Acheville]], France |burial_place= |allegiance={{flag|Canada|1868}} |branch=[[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] |service_years=1915–1917 |rank=[[Lieutenant]] |unit=[[27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion, CEF]] |commands= |battles=[[First World War]]{{KIA}} |awards=[[Victoria Cross]] |relations= |other_work= }} '''Robert Grierson Combe''' {{post-nominals|VC}} (5 August 1880 – 3 May 1917) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces. Combe is also considered Scottish since he was born in [[Aberdeen]], Scotland.
==Details== Combe was 36 years old, and a [[lieutenant]] in the [[27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion, CEF|27th Battalion]], [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] during the [[World War I|First World War]] when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 3 May 1917, south of [[Acheville]], [[France]], Lieutenant Combe steadied his company under intense fire and leading them through the enemy barrage reached the objective with only five men. He proceeded to bomb the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties and then, collecting small groups of men, succeeded in capturing the objective, together with 80 prisoners. He repeatedly charged the enemy, driving them before him, but while personally leading his bombers he was killed by a sniper.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue= 30154|date=26 June 1917 |page=6381|supp=y}}</ref>
Combe was buried in a battlefield cemetery near Acheville close where he was killed, but later fighting saw the cemetery destroyed and his grave site lost. As such, R.G. Combe's name is inscribed on the [[Canadian National Vimy Memorial]] along with the names of the other Canadian soldiers who were killed in France and whose bodies were never recovered or identified or whose graves were lost. The battlefield on which Lt. Combe fell is just over seven kilometres away from the Vimy Monument, and on a clear day Acheville can be seen from the monument itself.
==The medal== Combe's medal is held by the [[Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan|Provincial Archives]] in [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]], [[Saskatchewan]] and is displayed on special occasions. It is the only publicly held Victoria Cross in the province.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == *[[Monuments to Courage]] (David Harvey, 1999) *[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]] (This England, 1997) *Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
==External links== * [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=111382 Robert Grierson Combe digitized service file] * [http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/index.php/2004/11/vimy-and-more/ Legion Magazine article on Robert Combe]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Combe, Robert Grierson}} [[Category:1880 births]] [[Category:1917 deaths]] [[Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force officers]] [[Category:Canadian military personnel killed in World War I]] [[Category:Canadian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross]] [[Category:Military personnel from Aberdeen]] [[Category:Scottish emigrants to Canada]]