O'Leary, V.C., Kills
Eight Germans and Takes Two Barricades." "The Wonderful Story of
Michael O'Leary, V.C." Thus the streets of London flashed and
resounded with the name of Michael O'Leary--that name which sounds so
musically, and so irresistibly suggests the romance and dare-devildom
of the Irish race, and under its spell people rushed to read the story
of his deed. What appealed to the imagination was the touch of
strangeness and fantasy in the exploit. How curious it all is, when
one comes to think of it! As one is walking along a London street a
name suddenly emerges out of the unknown, and lo! it is fixed in the
memory with a halo for ever.

It was in the brickfields at Cuinchy, on February 1st, 1915, that
Michael O'Leary won his enduring fame. Taken by surprise, the
Coldstream Guards had lost a trench and failed to recapture it. The
Irish Guards, who were in reserve, were told to have a try. No. 1
Company, in which O'Leary was Lance-Corporal, formed the storming
party. They were only too glad of any excuse to get out of the mud and
slush of their trenches. Before the main body advanced across the open
ground--a brickfield, with here and there a stack of bricks--O'Leary,
who, in fact, was off duty, and need not have joined in the attack at
all, slipped away to the left towards a railway cutting. He had set
out spontaneously on his own initiative to give the enemy a bit of a
surprise. What would be the nature of the surprise, O'Leary himself
did not quite know at the moment. It would all depend upon the
development of the situation and the actual circumstances when the
time came for him to decide. But for days before as he lay in the
trenches he had brought his powers of observation into play, and
having grasped all the essential details of the geographical
situation and the military position, he reasoned out a plan with
himself.

According to that plan, the first thing he had to do was to get into
the railway cutting on his left. This he did with all speed, and very
soon afterwards he re-ascended to the top of the embankment and found
himself almost in a direct line with the first German barricade, one
of the brick stacks, about twenty or thirty yards square, and about
twenty feet high and solid. With five shots he killed as many of the
German defenders. Then seeing the headlong and irresistible dash of
his comrades across the field he came to the conclusion that the
remaining Germans had no chance of escape.