In 2010, I came across the story of Adolf Hitler’s life being spared by a British soldier at Marcoing in September 1918. That soldier was identified by Adolf Hitler as Private Henry Tandey who between the 25 August and the 28 September 1918 was awarded the Military Medal, the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and the Victoria Cross, becoming the most decorated private soldier to survive the First World War. Yet the more I read about Henry Tandey it seemed to me that he was known more for his alleged compassion towards Hitler rather than for his undoubted bravery. To me, this seemed to do him a disservice and in 2012 The History Press published my biography of this extraordinarily brave man.
The story of Private Henry Tandey is one that has been, and continues to be, blighted by lazy journalism and poor research and is an example of where if a falsehood is repeated often enough then it assumes the status of a fact. Let’s be very clear that despite how many times a falsehood is repeated, it remains a falsehood. The most recent example of this is the claim that Private Tandey joined the army aged 14 when, in fact, according to his birth certificate, he was born on 30 August 1891 in Swains Buildings, Kenilworth Street, Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire and his army record shows that he enlisted in August 1910.
