Blue plaque installed to commemorate Pontefract soldiers from Great War and Boer War who received Victoria Cross
Soldiers who received the highest British armed forces award for gallantry have been commemorated with a blue plaque.
The Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Ed Anderson unveiled a Pontefract Civic Society Blue Plaque to honor nine Yorkshire Victoria Cross recipients from the Boer War and World War I.
Private Charles Ward, Private Wilfred Evans, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Greenwood, Lance Corporal Frederick William Holmes, Sergeant John William Ormsby, Private Horace Waller, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Cyril Spencer Watson, Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate and Sergeant Laurence Calvert were named on the plaque.
The event was, at Minden House, attended by civic dignitaries, senior staff from Battalion Headquarters 8Rifles, members of the cvic society, and family members of Lieutenant Colonel Greenwood, Sergeant Ormsby and Private Charles Ward.
Jason Yarrow, the great grandson of John Ormsby, said: "I was honoured to represent at the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Victoria Cross plaque unveiling.
“My great grandfather Sergeant John William Ormsby being one of the nine recipients on the plaque.
"It's wonderful that over 100 years on we are still honouring them and with this plaque we can continue to honour and remember them. A very proud day indeed.”
Mick Ward, the grandson of Charles Ward, said: "It was a pleasure and honour to be at the unveiling.
"It is good to be there to see those individuals, including my grandfather, recognised for their bravery but also to meet up with the other families represented and to talk with them about some of the common histories handed down across the generations.
“Having the plaque in place will help keep those memories alive, but also help stimulate discussion amongst younger generations, not only about those individual acts, but to look at the bigger picture of why those soldiers were there fighting and try to relate that to what is going on in the world now, helping with their own choices, resilience and actions."
Four members of the Minden House Buglers – Major David Jarratt, Steve Tagg, Pete Bate, and Brian Johnson—performed a fanfare as the blue Ppaque, flanked by KOYLI standards carried by Rob Smith and Colin Cranswick, was unveiled.