Fitting tribute for Great War hero

Private Thomas Greenwood, Luddenden’s first fatality during the First World War, was commemorated in a special ceremony exactly a century after he was killed in action. His great-niece Gillian Holt, of Midgley, laid a poppy cross in his memory at the Luddenden and Midgley War Memorial, at the event organised by the Luddenden WW1 Commemoration Project.

Thomas Greenwood died, aged 32, on August 24, 1914, just three weeks after war was declared, after being fatally injured whilst attempting to get his commanding officer to safety during a skirmish at the village of Warmes during the Battle of Mons.

Private Greenwood was an experienced reservist who was steward of Midgley Working Men’s Club before he was called up again to join the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment at the outbreak of war.

He left a wife, Annie Greenwood, and three children, Marion, Dinah and George.

Project team member Mel Powell explained: “The aim of the project is a very simple one: that every single one of the men who marched away from Luddenden and Midgley and did not return has someone in his own home village to remember him as an individual during the four years of the national commemorations.

“It was a privilege to be able to re-tell Private Greenwood’s story based on our initial research, and to meet the descendants of a true local hero.

“Now we plan to do the