This morning a paving stone was unveiled at a local War Memorial for a soldier of the British army, who's selfless act a hundred years ago today posthumously earned him the Victoria Cross. Born locally, Cecil Noble was an Acting Corporal in the 2nd Batallion, The Rifle Brigade, and was wounded along with another man (Harry Daniels), as they both voluntarily rushed to cut barbed wire that was impeding an advance against German lines at Neuve Chapelle, France. Daniels survived his injuries but Noble died the following day. He was 23 years old.
During the short service held before the unveiling it was noted that to be awarded the VC there needed to be a 90% chance of dying during an act that was deemed to be above and beyond the call of duty.
Sounding the Last Post
After the ceromony I took the opportunity to photograph two nearby memorials of pilots who died locally, although not in action. The first (below) is the recently re-vamped plaque for Flt/Lt Henry Green, and the one below that for Flt/Lt Jon Egging of The Red Arrows.
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The Blue Plaque, comissioned by The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, is something I have been meaning to photograph for some time, and since I was in the area I thought now would be as good a time as any. A childhood hero of mine, at the height of his popularity the comic genius commanded half the viweing audience of UK television each time one of his shows was transmitted.
Having asked permission to take photographs - always a good idea - the helpful chap on the hotel front desk offered to show me to a second floor corridor, where a glass display cabinet contained a number of artifacts of the man. Amongst the items on show were three typewriters: one owned by his family; a second one that the lad 'imself used to write scripts on, and lastly the one that was with him when he died in an Australian hotel room in 1968.
Unfortunately, light levels in the corridor are very low and without a tripod it would be rather pointless to try and take any photographs, but the man on the desk said it would be no problem for me to return at a later date - suitably equipped - to get the images I wanted. A subject of a future post.
© 2015
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