WHEN Lieutenant Colonel John Shone completed his first tour of command of the Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR) in 2005, he presented his colleagues with a portrait of George Burdon McKean.

For McKean was and remains his hero, an example of “an ordinary person who did extraordinary things.” McKean’s bravery while serving for the same Canadian regiment a century earlier not only earned him the Victoria Cross but the Military Medal and Military Cross too.

In Canada, where McKean emigrated in 1902, he is held up as a shining example of “courage, audacity and grit,” with tales of his heroic First World War deeds retold to RMR recruits.

So when LCol Shone heard a memorial was being installed in McKean’s hometown of Willington in County Durham he was determined to attend the ceremony.

The father-of-three, who took command of the RMR again last May, said: “I want to attend the ceremony because I was involved in having the church square in Cagnicourt, France, renamed in honour of McKean. His story profoundly coloured my first tour of command of the RMR; so much so that my gift to the regiment upon completing my tour of command was a copy of McKean’s official portrait from the Canadian War Museum.

“Somehow, it seems that the ghost of McKean returns when I am in command of the RMR and my duty is to keep that legacy alive.”

LCol Shone, of Pointe-Claire, Quebec, added: “He has a town square named after him in France and a mountain named after him in Canada, but he was a British subject his entire life, and a resident of England both before and after his sojourns in Canada, Belgium and France so being commemorated in his country of origin is the right thing to do.”

The ceremony, on Saturday, April 28, will begin at 11am with a parade from Willington war memorial to the library, where a memorial stone will be revealed. This will be followed by a First World War Experience Event at the Open Door Church in Lydia Street.

Town clerk Helen Cogdon said: “We are delighted LCol Shone is joining us. It will help make the event even more poignant.”

In 2013, the Government announced plans to lay commemorative stones in the home town of every Victoria Cross holder. McKean’s memorial has been made possible thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the 3 Towns Area Action Partnership, Greater Willington Town Council and councillors Fraser Tinsley and Olwyn Gunn.

LCoL Shone said: “I applaud the British Government for its VC memorial programme, as it will bring back into popular consciousness acts of heroism that are in many respects the acme of human potential.”