The Mystery Of WW1’s Most Famous Face

This six-second clip is one of the most iconic images of the First World War, capturing a fleeting yet powerful moment from one of history’s most brutal battles. Taken from the 1916 documentary The Battle of the Somme, the footage was viewed by millions of cinema-goers at the time, and has since become a staple in documentaries, books, and online media. It’s an image that has come to symbolize the courage and sacrifice of World War I.

The brief scene shows a stunning act of bravery and selflessness, etching the face of one soldier into history. But over a century later, one question still lingers: Who is he?

The Mystery Behind the Famous Face

Over the years, the Imperial War Museum has received more than 100 different suggestions for the soldier’s identity. Despite this, none of them have provided conclusive proof. By analyzing the footage frame by frame, researchers have been able to glean new clues—getting us closer than ever to solving the mystery.

The film opens with a stark title card:
“British Tommies Rescuing a Comrade Under Shell Fire. (This Man Died 30 Minutes After Reaching The Trenches.)”

What follows is a gripping sequence: two soldiers carry a wounded comrade through no man’s land, eventually crouching as if stepping into a trench. The next shot, taken from a different location, shows two more soldiers transporting the same wounded man on a stretcher—his short hair and torn left sleeve unmistakable.

Although it’s hard to tell if the man in the first scene is the same as the one in the stretcher shot, the editing suggests a linear story: rescued from no man’s land, carried through the trenches, and finally placed on a stretcher.

A Closer Look

To understand the footage, we have to start with the man behind the camera. In June 1916, the British War Office authorized filming of the Somme offensive. Geoffrey Malins, one of two official cameramen, was attached to the 29th Division and tasked with capturing battle footage for the documentary.

When The Battle of the Somme was released just a few months later, it was seen by over 20 million people in Britain alone. In his post-war memoirs, Malins wrote:
“I filmed the rescue from start to finish until they passed me in the trench. Upon the back of one was the unconscious man he rescued, but twenty minutes after these two had gone through hell to rescue him, the poor fellow died.”

Malins’ account aligns with the footage and the title card, confirming that the man seen carrying the wounded soldier was one of the rescuers from the initial scene.

Photographer Ernest Brooks was also present that day, working closely with Malins. One of Brooks’ photographs shows the same wounded man being carried—this time by a different soldier. So, why is the same man shown being carried by two different people?

By examining the film’s background, researchers noticed that the man from the photograph appears in the film clip as well. This suggests that the soldier in the photo likely handed off the wounded man to the one captured in the film.

Uncovering the Truth

The photograph made front-page news across Britain. In a July 29, 1916 edition of The War Illustrated, the rescuer was identified as Tom Spencer of the Royal Garrison Artillery. According to Malins, Spencer carried the man out of no man’s land—before handing him off to the unnamed man featured in the film.

That brings us to another name that’s surfaced repeatedly over the last 15 years: Charles Brennan. He’s the only individual to have been identified during the war itself. An article in the Sligo Champion named Brennan as the man carrying the wounded soldier in the trench scene. He was a gunner in a heavy trench mortar battery—just like Spencer.

While this seems promising, definitive proof remains elusive. No suggestion to date has been supported by irrefutable evidence, and the true identity of the man remains one of World War I’s most compelling mysteries.