Alfred Oliver PollardVCMC & Bar DCM was 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. He later became a prolific author of crime and mystery books.
Military Service
He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School and Merchant Taylors' School 1906–1908. Pollard had volunteered for service on 8 August 1914. Up to that date, he had worked as a clerk at an insurance company. He was wounded twice, but showed exceptional courage in returning to his unit after recovering from wounds. His bravery earned him the highest awards awarded to a soldier in his unit during the war. He had entered the war as a private, but was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company, British Army during the First World War when the deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 29 April 1917 at Gavrelle, France, the troops of various units had become disorganised owing to the heavy casualties from shell fire and a subsequent determined attack with very strong forces caused further confusion and retirement. Second Lieutenant Pollard realised the seriousness of the situation and with only four men he started a counter-attack with bombs, pressing it home until he had broken the enemy attack and regained all that had been lost and much ground in addition. This officer's splendid example inspired courage into every man who saw him. His Victoria Cross is held by the Honourable Artillery Company in London, and a copy is on display in its Medal Room.
Brother
His elder brother, Frank, was also a member of the HAC, but when he believed he would not be sent to the front, deserted and joined the Grenadier Guards. He was killed in action in September 1916, just before he was to be sent back to England on a commissioning course.
Later life
In 1918, Pollard married Mary Ainsley of Trefilan, Purley. He served in the Royal Air Force in a short term commission as a pilot officer in the mid-1920s. Pollard's autobiography, Fire-Eater: the Memoirs of a VC published in 1932, recounts his experience of the war, from joining the HAC on the outbreak of war up to the armistice. It depicts a man who was able to deal with the violence and huge loss of life by rationalising it as a necessary evil to destroy the enemy. Pollard became a professional writer post-war and published more than 60 books, fiction and non-fiction. Pollard died in Bournemouth, where he was cremated and is buried.
