A LARGE crowd gathered at the clock tower in Coleford on Tuesday (April 5) for the unveiling of a memorial stone to Victoria Cross holder Angus Buchanan.

It was exactly 100 years to the day of the act of exceptional courage which earned the Coleford-born 21-year-old Britain’s highest military honour.

The stone was unveiled by Captain Nathan Chronik of the Royal Welsh, the successor to the South Wales Borderers in which Captain Buchanan served.

He also read the citation which explained the act of heroism that led to the Victoria Cross.

While serving as a temporary captain in Meso­potamia – modern day Iraq – he risked his life to help a severely wounded officer.

During an attack two men went out to help the officer who was 150 yards from cover but one was immediately hit.

Seeing this, Captain Buchanan went out under heavy machine gun fire to help the other man bring back the wounded officer.

He then returned, again under heavy fire, to rescue the other wounded man.

Captain Buchanan was wounded several times but survived the war and returned to Coleford where he worked as a respected solicitor until his death aged 49 in 1944.

Descendants of Captain Buchanan joined local dignitaries, members of the British Legion, representatives of Monmouth School where he was head boy and members of the public for the ceremony.

His second cousin, Aldyth Davies of Abergavenny, said it was “wonderful” that he was being honoured.

Chris Howell, a former reader at St John’s Church in Coleford, spoke about Mr Buchanan’s life and said a prayer.

The stone is one of 469 being laid across the country as part of a project by the Department for Communities and Local Government to honour every recipient of the Victoria Cross won during the First World War.