V.C. WINNER SUES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 516, 20 November 1928, Page 1

V.C. WINNER SUES

Gallant Gallipoli Soldier Injured by Exploding Bomb MAKING SCENE FOR FILM (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Received 11 a.m. LONDON, Monday. BEFORE the King’s Bench, the Australian Victoria Cross winner, Lieutenant Leonard Keysor, sued the film producer, G. B. Samuelson. for damages, for injuries received while filming a re-enactment of the Gallipoli bombing episode for which Keysor was decorated.

The plaintiff’s case was that in consideration of £75 a week he went to the studio.

Smoke bombs and gunpowder were used in the reproduction of the trench scene.

He alleges that the bombs, carelessly thrown, and the electrical discharge of the gunpowder was faulty. The result was that the bomb, and also the gunpowder, exploded in his face, fractured his jaw, and inflicted 100 incised wounds on the left forearm and 50 wounds on his knee. He was confined to bed for five and a-half weeks.

His jaw, despite operations, was permanently disfigured. Cross-examined, Keysor denied that he had not told Samuelson about a sandbag portion of the episo<le. "Samuelson told me a lot of things I did to get the Victoria Cross, but I hadn’t done them at all.” (Laughter.) A doctor ordered him to Monaco, which was very quiet. Mr. Beyfus, for the defence: I suppose you went across the border to Monte Carlo.

Keysor: Oh. yes. , ■ . Mr. Justice Horridge: I do not think you need pursue that. Keysor admitted that he did not know the cardboard jam-tin ' bombs were empty, with a small piece of fuse attached. Mr. Beyfus: I suggest that not one of the bombs exploded. Keysor: There was a certain amount of smoke. Something exploded when I threw them back.

The defendant gave evidence that he included the sandbag episode after Keysor told him of it. It was not the case that the signal for firing the charge was dropping the sandbag. The scheme was as safe as it could be in a war film. The case was adjourned.

Lieutenant Leonard Keysor, formerly or -New South Wales, is 3T5 years of age. He resided for a while in Canada, and had been in Sydney only three months when he enlisted, and joined the first battalion of the A.I.F. Subsequently he was transferred to the 42nd Battalion, and gained his commission on the field. He was awarded the Victoria Cross "for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty” at Lone I’inet trenches on Gallipoli on August 7 and 8, 1915.