A TRIO of Green Howards Victoria Cross holders are to be remembered in ceremonies on the Somme in France this weekend.
Members of the regiment will be at Contalmaison to unveil a new memorial to Donald Bell, the only English professional footballer to win the highest award for bravery.
They will also lay wreaths in memory of two other VCs - Private William Short and Major Stewart Loudon-Shand - who are buried within three miles of the village.
Pte Short, of Eston, near Middlesbrough, was killed at Munster Alley in 1916. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for devotion to duty, continuing to prime grenades for soldiers, even after he had been seriously injured by enemy fire.
Major Roger Chapman, from the Green Howards, said: "The area immediately around Contalmaison is remarkable for its association with so many Green Howards holders of the Victoria Cross.
"The regiment felt it right to remember not only Bell during this weekend's ceremony, but the bravery of all those who fought so bravely on the Somme."
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