School remembers WW1 heroes who crossed onto No Man's Land to rescue injured men

Kris Jepson went to meet pupils and servicemen in High Spen as they reflected on the village's two World War One heroes - both awarded the Victoria Cross medal for bravery.

School children from a Gateshead village have paid their respects on Armistice Day to two men from High Spen who were awarded the Victoria Cross for Bravery following the First World War.

Lance Corporal Frederick William Dobson and Private Thomas Young crawled across No Man's Land under heavy artillery and shell fire to bring back casualties. Between them, they saved 13 lives.

Thomas Young, a stretcher bearer, saved nine people, and Frederick William Dobson saved four. Both have blue plaques at the village school commemorating them, and a war memorial, which at the 11th hour on 11th day of the 11th month, forms a perfect silhouette of a soldier over a poem.

Headteacher of High Spen Primary School Andrew Firth, told ITV Tyne Tees: "They went back out into no-man’s land to rescue people who’d been injured and that’s why we consider them to sit with our school motto, which is looking out for each other.

"I think it’s really important that we do encourage children to remember and be grateful for what we do have. In the assembly this morning they wanted to know as much about the animals that were injured in wartime so it really is about gratitude for people who’ve put themselves at risk to bring a safer tomorrow for us."

The school pupils planted 100 metal poppies at the memorial on Monday 11 November 2024, and attended a special service in memory of the two sons of the village. Red poppies were laid in honour of the fallen soldiers, but purple poppies were also laid in memory of the animals that have been killed in war.

One child said: "It can be really nice how people can always look at it and I know lots of schools don’t have this and I feel really proud that our school has it."

Another said: "It think people should be really proud that these two people risked their lives to help other people."

A girl added: "I'm overjoyed and like happy to know that this village had two men that saved many people’s lives."

A boy said: "I feel really happy, but sad at the same time, but I’m proud that someone or people from our village went to war so they could save us."

The children spent the morning listening to stories from veterans of the Durham Light Infantry Association, and also took part in an arts and crafts exercise to produce collages of poppies.

Veteran, Alan Hobson, said of the two VC winners: "I think it’s very unbelievable, because first of all they’d already been in a fire fight on the front trenches and then they went back into no-man’s land to bring out casualties. Well the enemy could see them and maybe open up on them and fire at them again."

Fellow veteran, Tommy Robson, said of the Remembrance service: "It is really moving. This is one of my favourite services to come to every year. It’s my honour to pay tribute to them every year, as long as I can live."

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