Early 1916 found the Reverend Mellish attached to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers who at that time were serving in the notorious Ypres Salient. The Action of the Si Eloi Craters went on from late March until mid April 1916 but it was to be the first three days of this action that were to bring the award of the Victoria Cross to Edward Mellish. The object of this operation was to cut away a German salient that encroached on the British lines over a front of about six hundred yards. It was however the three day period of 27th - 29th March which would see the Reverend Mellish move into the annals of the Victoria Cross. On the first day he brought in ten badly wounded men from ground that was literally swept by enemy machine gun fire. By the second day the Royal Fusiliers had been relieved but undeterred out he went again to bring in twelve more men and on the evening of the third day he took charge of a party of volunteers who went out again to rescue any remaining wounded they could find.