France will never forget Hugh’s VC courage...

Aug 22 2008 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

A SPECIAL service will be held in France this weekend to honour a courageous soldier who was awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

Private Hugh McIver, from Linwood, was killed in action in September 1918 at the age of 28.

There is already a memorial to Private McIver in France, where he died, and his medal is displayed at the Royal Scots Museum in Edinburgh.

He was awarded the VC – the highest honour a soldier can receive – for acting with “conspicuous bravery and devotion” while employed as a runner with the Army.

As one of Renfrewshire’s bravest heroes, he will be given recognition at a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the events that won him Britain’s highest military honour for bravery.

Tomorrow, a memorial will be unveiled in the village of Courcelles-le-Comte in honour of Private McIver.

Family

Renfrewshire Provost Celia Lawson, council leader Derek Mackay and the local authority’s chief executive David Martin have travelled to France to join 50 members of Private McIver’s family at the event.

Private McIver was the son of Hugh and Mary McIver and joined the Army on August 18, 1914.

He was serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Scots, when he won the VC.

Private McIver was acting as a company runner, carrying messages under heavy artillery and machine gun fire, when he chased a German scout alone into a machine gun post.

At this stage, he single-handedly killed six enemy soldiers and captured 20 more, along with two machine guns. This action allowed his unit to continue its advance.

He later risked his life to stop a British tank which had mistakenly opened fire on British soldiers.

Tragically, Private McIver was killed in action a short time later during fierce fighting near the village where he is buried.

In 1919, Hugh’s parents travelled to Buckingham Palace, where they were presented with his VC by King George V.

Provost Lawson said: “The historian Robert Mewett said ‘the Victoria Cross is earned in the soldier’s dreams but won in his worst nightmare.’

“It is hard for us to truly imagine the terrible circumstances under which Hugh McIver showed such extraordinary bravery.

“He was decorated for bravery three times in one of the most terrible conflicts ever seen.

“With so few survivors from the First World War still alive, it is right that his extraordinarily brave actions should be permanently recorded and remembered.

“It will be an honour to join Hugh’s family at the memorial ceremony and to make sure that his story is remembered in Renfrewshire.”

The council delegation were invited to the unveiling ceremony by the Mayor of Courcelles-le-Comte after a service held in Paisley last year to honour Private McIver and four other VC holders from Renfrewshire – Captain Arthur Henderson, of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders; Sergeant James McKechnie, of the Scots (Fusilier) Guards; Sergeant John Hannah, of 83 Squadron, Royal Air Force; and Private Samuel Evans, of the Yorkshire Regiment.

The five men represent what is thought to be the largest concentration of VC holders in any town in the world.

The Paisley ceremony, in June last year, marked the 150th anniversary of the first award of the medal and was followed by the unveiling of a monument to the five men at the town’s Hawkhead Cemetery.