Ross was about 33 years old, and serving as a
corporal in the
Corps of Royal Engineers,
British Army, in the
Crimean War, when he undertook the actions for which he later was awarded the VC. On 21 July 1855 at
Sebastopol,
Crimean Peninsula, Corporal Ross went out at night in charge of a working party of 200 men each carrying an entrenching tool and a
gabion, and before morning they had connected the 4th parallel right attack with an old Russian rifle-pit in front. On 23 August the corporal was in charge of the advance from the 5th parallel right attack on the Redan in placing and filling 25 gabions under a very heavy fire. Again, on 8 September he crept up to the Redan at night and returned to report its evacuation, bringing with him a wounded man. In addition to the Victoria Cross, Ross was awarded the French
Médaille militaire. He later achieved the rank of
sergeant. ==Victoria Cross medal==