Captain Charles Geoffrey Vickers, VC.

[Voltigeur]

© IWM (Q 69149)
Captain Charles Geoffrey Vickers, VC. 7th Battalion (Robin Hood), Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). Death: 16 March 1982.



Captain Vickers was awarded the Victoria Cross on 14 October 1915 (his 21st birthday) in the Hohenzollern Redoubt for the following action: "When nearly all his men had been killed or wounded, and with only two men available to hand him bombs, Captain Vickers held a barrier for some hours against heavy German bomb attacks from front and flank. Regardless of the fact that his own retreat would be cut off, he had ordered a second barrier to be built behind him, in order to ensure the safety of the trench. Finally, he was severely wounded, but not before his magnificent courage and determination had enabled the second barrier to be completed." Captain Vickers survived the First World War and went on to serve as a lawyer, administrator, writer and pioneering systems scientist. During the Second World War, he served as Deputy Director General at the Ministry of Economic Warfare, in charge of economic intelligence and a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He received a knighthood for his services 1946. Sir Geoffrey Vickers died in 1982. The Sir Geoffrey Vickers Memorial Award has been presented by the International Society for the Systems Sciences every year since 1987 in his memory.