Victoria Cross hero Theodore Veale is to be honoured in his home town exactly 100 years to the day he won the national's top bravery award – with a new commemorative stone.

Until 2002 there was no memorial at all in Dartmouth to the soldier who braved enemy gunfire to rescue a wounded officer during the First World War.

Now it has been announced that a special commemorative stone is to be laid in honour of his bravery as part of the nationwide events to mark next year's centenary of the Great War.

The commemorative stone will be one of 400 that will be laid across the country over the next few years.

A plaque memorial to Cpl Veale is in Royal Avenue Gardens. Just where the new stone will go has yet to be decided.

Cpl Veale went out into no-man's land five times over several hours to rescue Lt Eric Savill, who lay within yards of the German trenches. Initially Cpl Veale dragged the officer a few yards into a shell hole. With three volunteers they crawled out again only for one of them to be killed. Undeterred, Cpl Veale went out again with two other men and when they were ambushed returned fire with a light machine gun.

Eventually all made it back to the Devonshire Regiment trenches. The date was July 20, 1916. The battleground was the Somme.

Both men survived the war – Cpl Veale received his VC from King George V at Buckingham Palace on February 1917 and died in 1980, aged 87. Lt Savill became deputy ranger of Windsor Great Park where he created the Veale/Savill Garden. He was knighted in 1955.

The Dartmouth Veale/ Savill garden, part of Royal Avenue Gardens, includes four magnolias donated by the Veale/Savill garden at Windsor Great Park.

As part of the commemoration of the start of the 'Great War' in 1914, the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles mounted a competition to design the commemorative stone which he unveiled this month.

The individually engraved stones, funded by the Government, will be laid in 400 communities across the UK. The design will also incorporate an electronic QR code (a square bar code) which people will be able to scan using their smartphones to discover more information about their local Victoria Cross hero.

Mr Pickles said: 'The winning paving stone is a fitting tribute to the centenary of the war and will keep the memory of local war heroes alive for hundreds more years to come.'

The Veale/Savill garden in Dartmouth is maintained by South Hams Council and on Remembrance Sunday 2002 a commemorative service was held in the garden attended by Cpl Veal's daughter Theodora who wore his VC while unveiling a plaque to her father.

Theodora died six years ago, but Cpl Veale's son-in-law, widower John Grindell, is planning to attend the stone-laying ceremony on July 20, 2016, along with his daughter and Cpl Veale's granddaughter Jennifer.

John, a Royal Marine in the Second World War, said: 'We most certainly will be there for the stone laying. I am totally in favour of these such events as an ex-serviceman.

'People need to be aware of just how brave he was. He went into no-man's land four or five times in five hours – that was total bravery.'

Dartmouth district councillor Hilary Bastone said: 'This is a beautifully timed project to ensure that the memory of those who contributed so much to the achievements of this country are written in stone for future generations to understand and be inspired by.'

Dartmouth Town Council will be discussing the ceremony and an appropriate site for the commemorative stone with South Hams Council, which owns and maintains Royal Avenue Gardens.