Village’s honour for war hero
granddaughter Lauren Ashby the Battle of the Somme, 13820 Private McNally gained the first of his three gallantry awards – the Military Medal – when he dragged a seriously wounded officer to safety.
Then in early November 1917, he was awarded a bar to his Military Medal after he threetimes rescued men wounded or buried by enemy shellfire at Passchendaele, near Ypres.
But it was his actions in Italy in October 1918 that earned him the military’s highest accolade. His VC citation, published in the London Gazette in December 1918, praised his “conspicuous bravery” adding: “Throughout the whole operations his innumerable acts of gallantry set a high example to his men, and his leading was beyond all praise.”
McNally received his VC from King George V in July 1919 and the following year, on Remembrance Day, he was included in the VC Guard of Honour for the interment of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.
Despite being wounded three times, McNally returned to work at Murton Colliery after the war.
He served in the Home Guard during the Second World War and finally retired in 1958 aged 65. He died in Murton in January 1976 and, two years later, a stone memorial was unveiled on the village green, where the VC stone has been installed.
For more information about Murton Heritage Society, visit www.murtonheritagesociety.co.uk. To find out more about the impact of the First World War on Co Durham and its people, visit www.durhamatwar.org.uk COUN JOHN LETHBRIDGE