Gunner Graham was an extraordinary Scottish soldier in the Royal Garrison Artillery during WW1. He had just turned 20 years old when he was decorated for gallantry in 1918 with the Military Medal. The Medal represents a level of valour in combat only surpassed by that for the Victoria Cross. As an enlisted man Gunner Graham didn’t qualify for the Military Cross, which was reserved for officers at the time. Listen to the story of his medal and how he overcame the endemic discrimination of the establishment.
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EXTRA INFORMATION: Here’s a short piece about Hill 60, roughly a mile from Manor Farm, that wouldn’t fit into Gunner Graham’s story. Hill 60 is the site of the largest non-nuclear explosion ever.
The BL 9.2″ Howitzer Mk11, known as Mother, weighed just shy of 16 tons and could hurl a shell weighing as much as a small piano for eight miles.
A contemporary planning map for the raid on Manor Farm. The raid started at 12:15am on the night of 20 June 1918.
Hugh and Nancy, his schooldays sweetheart who wrote so many letters to him in France, are engaged in 1923. Hugh was always a formal and dapper dresser.