THE sun shined down on the unveiling of a commemorative stone laid in honour of a First World War hero awarded the Victoria Cross.

The memorial stone was unveiled in Dartmouth’s Royal Avenue Gardens on Wednesday, in honour of Cpl Theodore Veale.

On July 20, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, when he was still a private, he travelled into no man’s land to rescue a wounded officer.

The unveiling was led by Cllr Peter Smerdon, chairman of South Hams Council, who said: ‘We are here to honour the 100th anniversary of the award of the Victoria Cross to Private Theodore Veale, 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regi­ment.

‘He was born in Dartmouth and was the first man in the town to volunteer for the army at the outbreak of the war.

‘He won his VC for courage and determination of the highest order while rescuing an officer under enemy fire at the height of the Battle of the Somme.’

Cllr Smeardon explained that 469 commemorative stones were being laid across Britain from 2014, 100 years since the first Victoria Cross was awarded, to 2018, when the last VC?of the First World War was won.

Dartmouth mayor Cllr Rob Lyon then spoke to members of the public, the son-in-law and granddaughter of Cpl Veale, the Deputy Lieutenant of Devon, Rear Admiral Robin Shiffner, the Devon High Sheriff, members of the Royal British Legion and the Devon and Dorset Regiment Association, military representatives and Britannia Royal Naval College Captain Henry Duffy.

Cllr Lyons said it was a ‘great honour’ to be at the unveiling, to remember an ‘act of outstanding heroism by one of Dartmouth’s sons’.

Talking about Cpl Veale said: ‘He went into no man’s land five times to rescue a wounded officer, Lieutenant Eric Savill. It’s inconceivable for most of us to understand the inner strength required to undertake such a mission with the noise and the mayhem all around. Not just once, but five times.

‘The Victoria Cross is our country’s highest award for gallantry and Theodore Veale, without doubt, deserves the nation’s recognition for his bravery and the decoration was justly awarded. We understand why it was awarded and we are here today to honour his memory.’

Cpl Veale’s son-in-law and granddaughter, John and Jenny Grindell, then unveiled the new stone commemorating the awarding of the Victoria Cross to their father-in-law and grandfather.

Mr Grindell said: ‘On behalf of the Veale family, I would just like to say how very proud we are that you have provided this celebration and we are very grateful to see you all her old and young alike and I see there are one or two Royal Marines here, which pleases me immensely. Have a good day.’

Ms Grindell said she and her family were ‘very, very proud’ and that it was ‘an absolute privilege to be here and have so many people here today remembering something that happened 100 years ago, it is amazing’.

She said: ‘He was just a normal grandad to me, did all the things that granddads do.

‘He didn’t really speak about talk about this Victoria Cross, he saw it as just what he was trained to do’.

‘He always had lots of stories to tell about the war but never the events of the day that he won his cross. He was very humble about it.

‘My mum was obviously very, very proud of it, so she kept telling me all the stories.’

Cllr Smeardon then read the citation which accompanied the awarding of the VC that explained the heroic act. It said: ‘On the 20th of July 1916, east of Highwood, France, Private Veale, hearing that a wounded officer, one Lieutenant Eric Saville, was lying in the open within fifty yards of the enemy, went out and dragged him into a shell-hole and then took him water.

‘As he could not carry the officer by himself, he fetched volunteers, one of whom was killed almost at once. Heavy fire necessitated leaving the wounded man in a shell hole until dusk when Private Veale went out again with volunteers.

‘When an enemy patrol approached, he went back for a Lewis Gun with which he covered the party while the Lieutenant was carried to safety.’

Lt Col Neville Holmes then read the Ode to Remembrance, the forth verse of Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen, the famous lines: ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.’

The bugler Rifleman Major played the Last Post, followed by a two-minute silence.

The memorial stone was placed below the VC memorial plaque in Royal Avenue Gardens which was researched, organised and the funds raised for by author Don Collinson of Kingswear and publisher Richard Webb. It was installed on Remembrance Sunday 2002.