FORSYTH, SAMUEL (1891-1918) was born in Wellington, the son of Thomas Forsyth. He was employed as a goldmining amalgamator when he volunteered for service in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (13 Aug 1914). Forsyth was wounded on Gallipoli (Aug 1915), when he served with the engineers. In France he was promoted to lance-corporal, Dec 1916; corporal, Nov 1917; sergeant, May 1918. On 24 Aug 1918 Forsyth rushed several machine gun posts which were obstructing the New Zealand advance on a village and by dashing leadership and total disregard for danger captured all of them. He afterwards, in spite of being wounded, approached the enemy positions on foot to guide a British tank to a favourable position. When the tank was put out of action he organised the crew into a section and led them against enemy machine gun posts until he was killed by a sniper. He was posthumously awarded the V.C.

Annabel, Official History of the N.Z. Engineers, 1922 (p); London Gaz. 21 Oct 1918; N.Z.E.F. routine order; The New Zealander (London), 25 Oct 1918.

Reference: Volume 1, page 152

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