George Imlach McIntosh VC (24 April 1897 – 20 June 1968) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

forces.

Details

He was 20 years old, and a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the 1/6th Battalion,

The Gordon Highlanders The Gordon Highlanders was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed for 113 years, from 1881 until 1994, when it was amalgamated with The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) to form The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gor ...

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the First World War when the following deed took place at the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies of World War I, Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front (World Wa ...

for which he was awarded the VC. On 31 July 1917 at

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, during the consolidation of a position, the company came under machine-gun fire at close range and Private Mclntosh immediately rushed forward under heavy fire and reaching the emplacement, threw a Mills grenade into it, killing two of the enemy and wounding a third. Subsequently, entering the dug-out he found two light machine-guns which he carried back with him. His quick grasp of the situation and the rapidity with which he acted undoubtedly saved many of his comrades and enabled the consolidation to proceed unhindered by machine-gun fire. George McIntosh was born in

Buckie Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in List of burghs in Scotland, 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was ...

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

. McIntosh went on to join the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and served in World War II, and during 1942 was the senior NCO with No 1 squadron. He later achieved the rank of

Flight Sergeant Flight sergeant (commonly abbreviated to Flt Sgt, F/Sgt, FSGT or, currently correctly in the RAF, FS) is a senior non-commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structur ...

. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the

Gordon Highlanders Museum The Gordon Highlanders Museum is based in Aberdeen, Scotland and celebrates the story of the Gordon Highlanders regiment, which originated as the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in 1794, merged with the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regimen ...

, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Freemasonry

McIntosh was a Scottish Freemason being Initiated in Lodge Gordon, No. 589, (Buckie, Banffshire, Scotland) on 7 April 1920, Passed on 10 March and Raised on 6 April 1921.The Great War 1914–1918 Victoria Cross Freemasons. Granville Angell. 2014. pp. 175–181.

References

Monuments to Courage David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a British historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took ...

(David Harvey, 1999) *

The Register of the Victoria Cross ''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the f ...

(This England, 1997) *Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995) *

VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 ''VCs of the First World War'' is a series of books that list the Victoria Cross recipients of the First World War. The series consists of 13 books written by four different authors, first published under the label Sutton Publishing Limited, par ...

(Stephen Snelling, 1998)

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Grampian)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:McIntosh, George Imlach 1897 births 1968 deaths British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross British Army personnel of World War I Gordon Highlanders soldiers People from Buckie British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen Military personnel from Moray