Victoria Cross recipient will be honoured in Worcester - The Redditch Standard

Victoria Cross recipient will be honoured in Worcester

Redditch Editorial 1st Jul, 2016 Updated: 18th Oct, 2016   0

A FORMER Worcestershire County Council employee is to be honoured this weekend for his role in the Battle of the Somme.

Private Thomas George Turrall (pictured) was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery on July 3, 1916.

Mr Turrall was born in Birmingham in 1886 and worked as a painter and decorator in Yardley before the War. While working for Worcestershire County Council, he enlisted, joined the Worcestershire Regiment and was sent to France in the summer of 1915.

During the attack at La Boiselle, small bombing parties of the Worcestershire Regiment pushed forward when a hidden German machine gun opened fire. The only survivors were Pte Turrall and Lieutenant Jennings, whose leg was shattered.




Pte Turrall dragged Jennings to a shell hole, bandaging his leg with one of his puttees, using his entrenching tool as a splint.

That night, Turrall managed to make his way back to the British trenches carrying his lieutenant. Before he died, the officer was able to report on Turrall’s actions which merited the award of the Victoria Cross.


After the War he resumed life as a painter and decorator and died in 1964 in Birmingham.

There is a wreath laying ceremony at 11am on Sunday, July 3 in Gheluvelt Park, Worcester in his memory.

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