A new British book outlines the life and death of the only Halifax-born person to be awarded the Victoria Cross for military service.

Lt.-Col. Philip Eric Bent died in fighting at Polygon Wood in Belgium on Oct. 1, 1917. Kenneth Hillier wrote Come on the Tigers!, the book about Bent, which was published by a local museum.

Bent was born in Halifax and lived in the city until he was 12, when he and his mother moved to Scotland. Hillier said Bent is a Canadian and British war hero.

"We should be equally proud of what he achieved," said Hillier.

Hillier's new book celebrates a Halifax-born hero.

Bent attended school in both Scotland and England. He had an interest in the navy, but when the First World War broke out he enlisted with the British army and fought with the 9th Leicestershire Regiment, known as the Tigers.

"A schoolmate described him as a live wire," said Hillier. "They said he was a disciplinarian when he got into higher rank, but he was well-liked by his men, well-respected."

Lost in Belgium

During a German counterattack, Bent gathered his men and led the charge with the rallying cry, "Come on the Tigers!" The charge plugged the breach in the line, but Bent was killed. He was 26, one of the youngest lieutenant-colonels in the British army. Bent's body was not found.

The letter informing his mother of his death said he led the attack "utterly regardless of his own safety." It said he went ahead of his men waving his revolver in the air as he shouted the rally cry.

Kevin Robins is a military historian at the Army Museum at Halifax's Citadel Hill, which has a display about Bent. He said Bent is one of thousands of soldiers who died graveless in Belgium.

"There's barely time to get the wounded; there's no time to remove the dead," said Robins of battle conditions. "And that part of Belgium is below sea level, so literally people sunk into the mud."

Bent's sword was returned to his father and it hangs in a case at the All Saints Cathedral in Halifax.

Honoured abroad

Bent earned his medals fighting with the British army, but he grew up in Halifax. (Submitted by Ken Hillier)

Bent's great-nephew, Keith Willis, lives in England and recently attended a commemoration in Ashby de la Zouch, England, for the 100th anniversary of Bent's death.

"I mean, the bravery of the guys going into almost certain death," said Willis. "They're still pulling out 60 tonnes of spent shells from Polygon Wood every year."

Bent's name is on the Tyne Cot monument in Belgium, on new monuments or plaques in the English villages of Alrewas and Ashby de la Zouch, and on a plaque in Edinburgh.

Four other Nova Scotians have been awarded the Victoria Cross:

William Hall of Horton in the Annapolis Valley. Awarded for action in Lucknow, India, in 1857.

John Chipman Kerr of Fox River, Cumberland County. Awarded for action in the Somme campaign in France in the First World War.

James Robertson of Albion Mines (now Stellarton) in Pictou County. Awarded for action in Passchendaele, Belgium, in the First World War.

John Bernard Croak of Little Bay, Newfoundland, and Cape Breton. Awarded for action in Amiens, France, in the First World War.