Second Lieutenant Fred Birks died when he single-handedly captured a machine-gun against 25 of the enemy. He was hit while trying to help comrades buried after the area had been hit by a shell. Fred had left the family home at Garden Cottage, Chester Road, with two friends to find their fortune in Australia. He stayed with relatives and worked as a waiter, but within three months the First World War had broken out.

Within two weeks of war being declared on August 4 1914, Fred, not yet 20, enlisted in the 1st Australian Division. He was a member of the 100-plus 2nd Field Ambulance attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade. In the summer of 1917 Fred found himself in Ypres, Belguim, with the German's hoping to capture Boulogne and Calais. The Allies' offensive would only begin after they had removed the Germans from ridges that ran to the east of the town.

A Battalion report says that Fred first sprang into action when, in an incident near Glencorse Wood, bombs were thrown and hasty shots fired from up to three pill boxes. The Australians were quick into them and the enemy surrendered. But from one, a machine-gun fired, and Fred and Cpl W Johnson instantly rushed in. They were met by bombs, Johnson was wounded but Fred reached the back of the pill box and the garrison, seeing the rest of the battalion, surrendered.

Since this article was written the family of Fred Birks have contributed a full account of his actions in our site, bbc.co.uk/memoryshare where you can post your comments relating to Fred or share your own stories about local history.