A soldier from Highbury has been honoured 100 years after winning the Victoria Cross for “bravery under heavy fire” in the First World War.
Charles William Train was born at 58, Chatterton Road in 1890. He was educated at Gillespie Road School and attended nearby St Thomas’s Church.
Train was part of the London Socttish Regiment, and arrived in France in 1914. On December 8, 1917, he was involved in a battle near Jerusalem, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Train’s company had been ambushed, but his quick thinking – rushing forward under enemy fire and lobbing accurately thrown grenades – saved his battalion from heavy casualties.
On Friday, 100 years after his brave actions, the council laid a commemorative stone at the Islington Green war memorial. Train, who died in 1965, is the third of five Victoria Cross recipients from the borough to get a stone.
Armed forces champion Cllr Gary Poole said: “We are honoured to commemorate his bravery 100 years ago, and also to remember the young servicemen and servicewomen who continue to risk their lives for our country today.”
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