This came from the new 'Military Illustrated' magazine, and is an excerpt from a new book... "In the Western desert, in 1942, Stan took an enourmous risk by deliberatly jumping on an S-Mine. Under fire, with shells falling all around we jumped off (the Bren CArrier) to find shelter. Stan suddenly yelled to 'Get Down!' He had trodden on this S-Mine. With commendable presence of mind, knowing that the slightest jer would set it off and kill them all, Stan deliberately ground his foot down on the mine, putting all his weight over the top of it. Most men would have panicked in this situation, probably fatally, for these mines were lethal. Ernie Roberts says 'Stan kept his foot hard on it and amazingly it went off harmlessly in the ground. It is safe to say he saved the lot of us - and he finished up with just a bruised foot'". THe book looks good, and details Hollis' career and includes the Military Medal that was not awarded to him, his single handed destruction of a Tiger I in africa with a gammon bomb and his many exploits at Dunkirk., Sicily and Normandy. In D-Day he went into action with a metal plate in his head froma seriuos wound picked up in Italy. He also tied a wire round the foot of a dead German sniper and attached the other end to his CO jeep... With the obvious effect when he drove away!!! A real character and seemingly indestructable, I look forward to this book!
More on the man: http://www.greenhowards.org.uk/html-files/vcgc-hollis.htm http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/clevelan.htm Stanley Hollis was the only soldier to win a VC on D Day. http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/teespride/tm_objectid=13538300&method=full&siteid=50080&headline=the-longest-day-of-stanley-hollis-name_page.html
He should also have been awarded the Military Medal after Dunkirk. He and five others counter-attacked the Germans to enable a group of Guards to withdraw. The award was denied after he and his five mates got back to Blighty and were caught having a swift pint by a stuck-up SM... The Tiger he destroyed in Africa was taken out by a gammon bomb, he drove up to the Tiger in a carrier, slapped the bomb on, and drove off!!!
What is more amazing, he kept his VC in a drawer in his house and never told anyone about it! He had to be almost begged to appear on TV etc and told his family that the medal in the drawer was to look after them if he died.
The following text is abridged from a recording made by Stan Hollis: The Second World War Experience Centre - Company Sergeant Major Stanley Elton Hollis VC