Award Circumstances and Date

London Gazette, 9 December 1916, p12059, Rec No 121: "Action: Flers Trench, Flers Support and Goose Alley: West of Flers, 21st September 1916. When the 2nd Canterbury Battalion were counter attacked on the afternoon of the 21st, Lance Corporal Woodhead was in command of a Machine Gun detachment in Flers Support Trench. When he saw that his right flank was in danger of being driven back, and that the position covered by his gun was not being attacked, he quickly (and without orders from a superior authority) shifted his gun to the parapet, at great his to his own personal safety from enemy snipers, and enfiladed the trench along which the enemy was working. He inflicted heavy loss on the enemy and held them back while the bombers reorganised and obtained further supplies. His quick action stopped the advancing enemy and was the turning point in the situation on the right."

Prisoner of War Information