The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Soldier’s memento returns
A REMARKABLE piece of memorabilia from the collection of an Angus Victoria Cross holder has come home to the county.
Charles Melvin from Kirriemuir was awarded Britain’s highest gallantry award for his heroic action in the battlefield of Istabulat in Iraq on the day of April 21 1917.
Melvin single-handedly rushed the enemy under heavy fire and killed several of them before takinging a number prisoner and marchinghing them back to British lines.s.
Now, a fascinatinging piece of The Black Watchh soldier’s story has emergedged after being sent to historianrian David Orr by one of Melvin’s American descendants.
The unusual artefactefact is an autograph book containing the signatures of aroundround 75 Victoria Cross holderslders who attended a dinner held in the Royal gallery of the Houseuse of LoLordsords in November 1929.
The Prince of Wales attended the banquet and Melvin had the foresight book around to takee the an tables. autograph autothe
Mr Orr said: “Thee book has been sent to me from Jimm McGregor in Virginia,inia, who hhas a llink tto Chay Melvin, and who I have known for some time.
“UUltimately, I would like to ppass iit on to The Black Watch museummuseum,m, wwhere his VC is kept, but it really is an amazing book— it has Melvin’s own name in it, and then there is just page after page of signatures, all with the initials VC at the end.
“Details of the men who were at the dinner have been well recorded and when you start to dig into the names it is a quite amazing collection of stories of bravery in the First World War,” Mr Orr added.