A stone will be unveiled by Surbiton war memorial later this year to commemorate Victoria Cross recipient Douglas Belcher.
The former Tiffin School pupil was given the nation’s highest award for valour after his outstanding heroism at Ypres in 1915.
The Surbiton native, born in 1889, was recognised for holding the German army at bay with the support of just a handful of men. During the second battle of Ypres, as his comrades in the Territorial London Rifle Brigade withdrew or were cut down around him, Belcher held a key road position in defiance of German forces trying to break through in an outflanking manoeuvre. The lance-sergeant managed to lay down such a hail of fire that the position appeared to be fully-manned.
He and his men were credited with saving an entire division from attack. Before the war Belcher worked for furniture makers Waring and Gillow. Afterwards he remained in the Army, serving in Mesopotamia during the Arab rising of 1921 and later in Burma. He retired a year later as a captain, but suffered from depression – what was then known as neurasthenia. When the Second World War broke out he rejoined his brigade but was injured in 1940.
He died aged 63, in Claygate. A memorial paving stone will be laid at the Ewell Road war memorial on Saturday, May 16, as part of a Government initiative. Last year was the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War. Belcher is currently only commemmorated in the Tiffin School war memorial, one of 120 Old Tiffinians who gave their lives in the four-year conflict.
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