Brigadier Percy Howard Hansen, (26 October 1890 – 12 February 1951) was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to personnel of the British and Commonwealth forces. Early life Hansen was born into a wealthy and well-connected Danish family that settled first in South Africa then, after 1900, in London. He was educated at preparatory schools in Hazelwood, Limpsfield, Surrey and Oxted, Surrey; then at Eton College (from 20 September 1904). His father, Viggo Julius Hansen, was naturalised as a British subject in 1910, so that his son could join the British Army. Military career After officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Hansen was commissioned into the Lincolnshire Regiment on 4 March 1911. First World War Hansen was appointed as a temporary captain shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914, as adjutant in the 6th (Service) Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, and his promotion was made permanent in the following April. He fought with his battalion, a recently-created Kitchener's Army unit composed of civilian volunteers, during the Gallipoli campaign in the summer of 1915. On 9 August 1915 at Yilghin Bumu, Hansen's battalion was forced to withdraw while assaulting Scimitar Hill. Hansen and volunteers repeatedly moved back and forth under heavy fire to successfully rescue six wounded men from capture, or death by burning. Hansen was consequently awarded the Victoria Cross. A month later, Hansen won the Military Cross for performing a reconnaissance mission at Suvla Bay. On the night of 9 September 1915, he carried out a solo reconnaissance of the coast, carrying only a revolver and a blanket for disguise. He successfully located an important Turkish firing position. Due to ill-health, Hansen was eventually transferred to France and appointed brigade major to the 170th (2/1st North Lancashire) Brigade. He remained a staff officer for the rest of the war, during which he served with the II Anzac Corps. He was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for another daring reconnaissance mission during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Between the wars Remaining in the army after the war, Hansen attended the Staff College, Camberley and, for most of the interwar period, served in numerous staff positions. After graduating, he then served as a brigade major with the 8th Infantry Brigade, part of the