A remarkable piece of memorabilia from the collection of an Angus Victoria Cross holder has come home to the county.
Charles Melvin from Kirriemuir was awarded Britain’s highest gallantry award for his heroic action in the battlefield of Istabulat in Iraq on the day of April 21 1917.
Melvin single-handedly rushed the enemy under heavy fire and killed several of them before taking a number prisoner and marching them back to British lines.
Now, a fascinating piece of The Black Watch soldier’s story has emerged after being sent to historian David Orr by one of Melvin’s American descendants.
The unusual artefact is an autograph book containing the signatures of around 75 Victoria Cross holders who attended a dinner held in the Royal gallery of the House of Lords in November 1929.
The Prince of Wales attended the banquet and Melvin had the foresight to take an autograph book around the tables.
Mr Orr said: “The book has been sent to me from Jim McGregor in Virginia, who has a link to Chay Melvin, and who I have known for some time.
“Ultimately, I would like to pass it on to The Black Watch museum, where his VC is kept, but it really is an amazing book it has Melvin’s own name in it, and then there is just page after page of signatures, all with the initials VC at the end.
“Details of the men who were at the dinner have been well recorded and when you start to dig into the names it is a quite amazing collection of stories of bravery in the First World War,” Mr Orr added.