BLACKBURN hero Sergeant William Grimbaldeston will be honoured with a special paving stone outside the Town Hall.

The ceremony, attended by family members travelling from the South of England will take place on Wednesday, August 16.

The event will be 100 years to the day after his courage in the three month long First World War Battle of Passchendaele which won him the nation’s highest award for military valour.

The event is part of a government initiative which will see commemorative paving stones laid in the places of birth of Victoria Cross recipients in the 1914-1918 conflict.

On Saturday September 2 paving stones to remember two Burnley VCs, Major Hugh Colvin and Coldstream Guard Thomas Whitham, will be laid in the town’s Peace Garden, outside the Central Library.

Two other Blackburn winners of the medal, John Schofield and Percy Thompson Dean, will receive their own paving stones at a later date.

Mill worker Sergeant Grimbaldeston was awarded the VC, and its French equivalent the Croix de Guerre, for capturing 36 armed German machine gunners threatening his company’s advance while wounded, and armed only with a rifle and a hand grenade.

The feat took place shortly after his return to action after injury and he continued to lead his men after having been wounded and burnt saving another soldier whose clothing had caught fire. As a result he had a finger amputated.

He was presented to the Queen during her visit to Blackburn in 1955

Cllr Mohammed Khan, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “This stone is a testament to the outstanding bravery and heroism of Sergeant William Grimbaldeston, whose actions to save his fellow soldiers should never be forgotten.

“This is a lasting legacy to William’s bravery and it is wonderful that this reminder is here for all residents and visitors to the borough to see.”

Other East Lancashire winners of the VC include Blackburn’s Private James Pitts in the Boer War, Rear Admiral and later Burnley MP Gordon Campbell, curate’s son Lieutenant Graham T. Lyall and former Withnell paper mill worker Private James Miller