Fulham Victoria Cross Winner Honoured
Corporal Edward Dwyer became youngest person to receive the medal
Fulham-born Corporal Edward Dwyer, the youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross at the time of his award, was honoured this week in a ceremony held in the Memorial Garden next to All Saints Church, Fulham.
Edward Dwyer was awarded the VC for his bravery at 'Hill 60' on the 20th April, 1915. When his trench came under attack, he climbed onto the parapet and threw grenades at the enemy to disperse their attack. Earlier in the day he had left his trench under heavy artillery fire to tend to wounded comrades. Edward was killed at the Somme on 3rd September, 1916 and is buried in a war cemetery in France. He was twenty years of age when he died.
Before the war he had worked as a delivery boy at a local grocer and joined up when he was just 17.
The Rev’d Canon Joseph Hawes of All Saints, the Vicar of Fulham, Father Dennis Touw of St Thomas of Canterbury Fulham, and the Rev’d Canon Christopher Tuckwell, representing Cardinal Nichols officiated at the ceremony on Monday 20th April.
Highlights from the commemoration, held on the 100th anniversary of the events which earned Corporal Dwyer the Victoria Cross, include the laying of a paving stone in the Memorial Garden by Councillor Mercy Umeh, the Mayor of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham; a reading by pupils from St Thomas RC Primary School, which Corporate Dwyer attended and a recitation of For the Fallen by Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, Wing Commander Mike Dudgeon OBE DL.
Lance Corporate Johnson Beharry, who won a Victoria Cross in Iraq in 2005, a contingent of Chelsea Pensioners and officers from the Princess of Wales Regiment and the Royal Yeomanry were also present. The Choir ensemble from All Saints and a brass ensemble led the worship and a bugler from the Coldstream Guards sounded the Last Post and the Reveille.
VC winner, L/C Johnson Beharry with members of the Fulham Army Cadet Force and of the new paving stone honouring Corporal Dwyer in the All Saints Memorial Garden
All Saints Fulham is honouring the lives of Fulham residents who served and died in the Great War through a series of commemorative events that began with a special service held on November 8, 2014 where music, readings and poetry from the war years was interspersed with the reading of histories of those who died and are listed on the All Saints War Memorial.
April 21, 2015