Lieutenant Willward Alexander Sandys-Clarke VC (8 June 1919 – 23 April 1943) was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Willward Alexander Sandys-Clarke
Born	8 June 1919 Southport, Lancashire, England
Died	23 April 1943 (aged 23) Guiriat El Atach, French Tunisia
Buried	Massicault War Cemetery
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1941–1943
Rank	Lieutenant
Service number	86517
Unit	Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire)
Battles/wars	World War II  †
Awards	Victoria Cross
Relations	Peter Sandys-Clarke (grandson)

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He was born in Southport,^[1] and was educated at Uppingham School. He married Dorothy Irene Deakin at the United Reformed Church in Belmont, Lancashire in 1941,^[2] and they lived in Egerton, near Bolton.

Sandys-Clarke was a 23-year-old lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), British Army during the Second World War when he was awarded the VC.

On 23 April 1943 at Guiriat El Atach, Tunisia, Lieutenant Clarke's company was counter-attacked and almost wiped out, he being the sole remaining officer. Although wounded in the head, he gathered a composite platoon together and advancing to attack the position again met heavy fire from a machine-gun post. He manoeuvred his men to give covering fire and then tackled the post single-handed, killing or capturing the crew and knocking out the gun. He dealt similarly with two other posts and then led his platoon to the objective, but was killed when he later went forward to tackle two sniper posts single-handed.^[3]

Sandys-Clarke was related to four other recipients of the award:

• Gen. Walter Congreve (Colenso)
• Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (Khudaganj)
• Lt. Frederick Roberts (Colenso)
• Maj. William Congreve (Somme)

The medal is retained by his family and is not on public display.