15
WORLD WAR I
Victoria Cross Commemoration – an honour for Buckden
As part of their commemoration of World War 1, the government has announced that each community
that was the birthplace of any recipient of a Victoria Cross during that war is to receive a commemora-
tive paving stone to mark this outstanding award.
Buckden can be proud that Captain John Green, RAMC, Medical Officer to the 1/5
th
Sherwood Forest-
ers, was born in Buckden. Coneygarths, on the High Street, was home to the family for several genera-
tions.
Captain Green was awarded a posthumous VC for his conspicuous devotion to duty during the morning
of 1
st
July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The citation tells how approaching the enemy
lines he found a badly wounded fellow officer caught up in the wire and suffering greatly. Although him-
self injured, he managed to free the man and drag him to a nearby shell-hole. Here he dressed his
wounds while under almost constant attack from bombs and rifle grenades. He then sought to get his
colleague back across No Man’s Land to safety. They had almost succeeded when the wounded man
was hit again. John Green stopped to help him, only to be hit and killed instantly. His body was not re-
covered until the following spring.
John Green was 26 years old when he died and had been married for six months, to the day. His 20
year old brother had been killed in the previous October.
1
st
July 1916 is an especially poignant date because, as many will know, the day still bears the record
for the greatest loss suffered by British forces in one day, with 20,000 being killed and 40,000 injured.
We should be particularly proud in Buckden as, of the 454 VC’s awarded to UK born citizens during
World War 1, only 2 were born in what is now Cambridgeshire.
The commemorative paving stone measures 600 mm X 600 mm and is made of York stone. The inten-
tion is that the stone will be laid on the 100
th
anniversary of the award, i.e. 1
st
July 2016. Prior to that
date, it is important for residents of Buckden to decide where the stone should be laid and the Parish
Council, who have been given the responsibility for this, wants to know your views. We are also keen to
hear from anyone who might be related to Captain Green.
Suggestions for where the paving stone may be sited are:
1.
In the short path that leads to the war memorial outside St Mary’s Church
2.
In the paving of the Green memorial on the High St
3.
In the pavement outside Coneygarths
4.
Any other location
The Parish Council would like to hear from you.
Please let us know which of these, or any other site/s, you think is most suitable. You can do this by e-
mailing the Chair of the Parish Council, Fiona Shirley, at
fc.shirley@btinternet.com
, by letter to 48 Vine-
yard Way or on the comments section of the Parish Council website:
www.buckdenparishcouncil.org.uk
We would be pleased to receive your suggestions by
31
st
August 2014.
Fiona Shirley, Chair to Buckden Parish Council
