Black Country Victoria Cross winners are honoured
Dec 30 2009 by Matt Lloyd, Birmingham Mail
THREE Black Country war heroes awarded the highest military accolade have had a plaque unveiled in their names.
The three men, who all had connections with Walsall, received the Victoria Cross for valour serving their country.
But it was only at Walsall Town Hall, decades after their deaths, that a lasting memorial bearing their names was unveiled.
Family members of James Thompson, Charles George Bonner and John Henry Charles were in attendance along with veterans, school children and civic dignitaries as Walsall Mayor Coun John O’Hare unveiled the plaque.
Mr Thompson received the VC in 1860 for saving the life of his captain in the 1st Battalion 60th Rifles during the Indian Mutiny on July 9, 1857.
On his return to Britain he lived in Staffordshire and then Walsall until his death in 1891.
Mr Bonner, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve, was awarded the VC for his bravery during the World War One battle on board the HMS Dunraven at the Bay of Biscay in 1917.
Despite raging fires and suffering injury, Lieut Bonner remained at his post in order to return fire on the U-boat targeting the Dunraven. He died in 1951 and his ashes were buried in Aldridge where a memorial stands in his honour.
Mr Carless, the youngest of the three to be honoured at aged 21, was awarded his VC posthumously in 1918 after being killed in action.
An ordinary seaman aboard HMS Caledon he remained at his post cheering on crewmates despite being mortally wounded in a battle of Heligoland Bight in the North Sea on November 17, 1917.
His parents were presented with his medal at Buckinham Palace by King George V.
James Bonner, great-grandson of Charles, said: “I’m very proud of what my great-grandfather did and it’s nice of the town to commend him. It’s great that so many young people are here today because it shows we’re applying the memory down the generations.”
