Victoria Cross soldiers to be remembered

Two Moray soldiers, commended for their heroics during World War I, will be honoured with lasting tributes in their hometowns.

Private George McIntosh and Sergeant Alexander Edwards were both awarded the Victoria Cross following the Battle of Passchendaele.

They won the country’s highest military honour after individual efforts on July 31, 1917.

And almost 100 years to the day, commemorative stones will be laid to coincide with the centenary of the brave deeds.

Pte McIntosh, a Gordon Highlander from Buckie, will be celebrated with a stone bearing his name at the town’s war memorial statue.

The unveiling will take place on July 29.

Pte McIntosh was just 20 when he single-handedly neutralised an enemy position while he and other members of his company were under heavy artillery fire.

He subsequently served in the RAF during World War II and was janitor at Buckie High School until his death in 1960, aged 63.

The following day, a stone will be unveiled in memory of Sgt Edwards at the war memorial in Lossiemouth.

The fisherman’s son enlisted when the World War I broke out and became company sergeant major in the Seaforth Highlanders. He was also hailed for his actions on the Belgian battlefield on August 1, 1917.

On consecutive days, and despite suffering bullet and shrapnel wounds, he knocked out an enemy position and rescued an officer as he lay wounded in no-man’s land.

He was killed in action the following year, aged 32.

The UK Government launched a campaign to commemorate all 627 service personnel who were awarded the Victoria Cross as a way of marking the war’s centenary, by having an engraved paving stone laid in their hometown.

Moray MP, Angus Robertson, said it was “incredibly important” that the region remembers the pair. He added: “These are individuals whose actions in the heat of battle have been recognised as exceptional and which saved the lives of many others.”