Lance Corporal Henry James Tandey VC, DCM, MM (born Tandy, 30 August 1891 – 20 December 1977) was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross,[note 1] the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Henry James Tandey was born at the Angel Hotel, Regent Street, Leamington, Warwickshire, the son of a former soldier whose wife had died early in their child's life.

After basic training he was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the regiment on 23 January 1911, serving with them in Guernsey and South Africa prior to the outbreak of World War I.

As the forward parties were being held up Tandey took two men and dashed across open ground (No man's land) under fire and bombed a trench.

This action led to the capture of the German positions and Tandey was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) on 5 December 1918, the citation read: 34506 Pte.

Having rescued several wounded men under fire the previous day,[12] Tandey again led a bombing party into the German trenches, returning with more prisoners.

[13] Tandey was 27 years old and a private in the 5th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment when he performed the actions which earned him the Victoria Cross (VC).

Tandey led a bayonet charge, fighting so fiercely that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company.

An eyewitness, Private H Lister, recounted the episode: On 28th September 1918 during the taking of the crossing over the Canal de St. Quentin at Marcoing, I was No.1 of the Lewis gun team of my platoon.

Pte Tandey, without hesitation, though he was twice wounded very nastily, took the leading part in our bayonet charge on the enemy, to get clear.

Though absolutely faint he refused to leave us until we had completely finished our job, collected our prisoners and restored the line.

Later in the evening, during an attack, he, with eight comrades, was surrounded by an overwhelming number of Germans, and though the position was apparently hopeless, he led a bayonet charge through them, fighting so fiercely that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company.

As the battle neared its end, a wounded German soldier wandered into Tandey's line of fire and he chose not to shoot.

[18] In 1923, the Green Howards Regiment commissioned a painting from Fortunino Matania, showing a soldier purported to be Tandey carrying a wounded man at the Kruiseke Crossroads (northwest of Menin) in 1914.

[22] Schwend gave a large photograph of the painting to Hitler, who purportedly identified the soldier carrying the wounded man as Tandey from the photo of him in the 1918 newspaper.

The Führer is naturally very interested in things connected with his own war experiences, and he was obviously moved when I showed him the photograph and explained the thought which you had in causing it to be sent to him.

In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Hitler at the Berghof for talks that led to the Munich Agreement, noticed the painting and asked about it.

[18] Hitler replied: That man came so near to killing me that I thought I should never see Germany again; Providence saved me from such devilishly accurate fire as those English boys were aiming at us.

The records related to the 1938 meeting at the Cadbury Research Centre (which holds copies of Chamberlain's papers and diaries) do not reference Tandey,[26][27] who at the time lived at 22 Cope Street, Coventry, and worked for the Triumph Motor Company.

At his request, he was cremated and his ashes buried in the Masnieres British Cemetery at Marcoing, France, on 23 May 1978, by his undertaker Pargetter and Son.

[33] A blue plaque was installed outside the Angel Hotel where Henry Tandey was born and at St Peter's School.

[35] A copy of Tandey's Victoria Cross is now displayed at the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire.