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Thomas George Turrall.v.c.

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Thomas George Turrall V.C.

A Birmingham Victoria Cross Holder who seems to have been forgotten is Private Thomas George Turrall 10th Battalion Worcester Regiment, born on 5th July 1885 and lived at 23 Oakley Road Small Heath. Before that they lived at 1 back of 63 Hawkes St with his Mother Ellen and father William who was a coal dealer and elder brother William.
He travelled to Worcester were he had family ties and found work there working for Worcestershire council
He was one on the first to volunteer at the start of the Great War in Sept.1914 and by 1915 he was on the Western Front and the following year fighting in the Battle of the Somme at La Boisselle in the Somme sector.
Turrall was quite a well-known character in the Regiment and the Regimental History of the War Records state that he had been freed from the Guard Room to take part in the battle.
Private Turrall was with a small group of men leading a bombing attack on a German position when they were caught in a hail of machine gun fire Private Turrall who was in his mid twenties remained with his officer Lieutenant Jennings who was very badly wounded his leg shattered by machine gun fire and was completely cut of on all sides by the murderous machine gun fire and bombs. Dragging the wounded officer into a shell hole Turrall used the wooden haft of his entrenching to make a splint bandaging it on with one of his puttees he remained their for three hours holding the position and looking after the officer the best way he could, with bombs bursting all round him.
On seeing a Germans bombing party had spotted him in the shell hole he watched as they advanced towards him.. Turrall held his ground picked up his rifle and shot two of them, he watched as the other retreated, then from the east he saw a German counter attack and knew the situation was hopeless as all the other members of his unit in the bombing party had been killed. Without hand grenades he could do no more. Jennings was unconscious so he flung himself onto the ground and feigned death; the Germans advanced prodded him with bayonets and passed him by. When darkness fell seizing a moment he took a chance and carried the wounded Jennings to safety to the British Lines only for him to die on the operating table in the field hospital …but not before Lieutenant Richard William Jennings had dictated an account of Turralls actions
Thomas rejoined his unit and fought with great gallantry till his unit was withdrawn from the fighting at La Boisselle.
Thomas George Turrall was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the field on the 3rd July 1916 in holding a position single-handed and saving an officers life under heavy fire.
When the King visited the trenches in 1916 Private Turrall was called out to speak to him.

A sad letter written by the mother of Jennings was sent to the mother of Turrall, which became public knowledge..and one passage read
“Will you let me know when your brave son is in England? I will go anywhere in England to see him and give him some special thing in memory of Lieutenant Jennings.
Your son must be a hero and so strong, for my son was over six feet”.

Turrall fought in Arras, Loos St.Quintin, La Bassee, and Cambrai right up to the advance in 1918, he was demobilised in April 1919
Private Thomas George Turrall 10th Battalion Worcester Regiment
Victoria Cross, 1914-15 Star, General Service Medal and Victory Medal

Two Photo's of Turrall one on joining up and the other with his V.C.
 
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Thanks for sharing this with us, Graham. What a brave man he must have been.
 
A wonderful account of one man's selfless bravery. Thanks for that Cromwell.
 
Private Turrall took his baby daughter with him when he went to Buckingham Palace to receive the VC and he was also accompanied by his parents. After the war he returned to his old trade of being a painter and decorator and attended many military reunions. He died in Selly Oak Hospital on the 21st February 1964 and was given a full military funeral at the Robin Hood Cemetary. He was aged 78. R.I.P.
 
Thomas George Turrall, V.C.

Thanks Graham for bringing the brave actions of Thomas George Turrell to our attention, and thanks also to Lois for her input, it is nice to know he lived to a good age, and hopefully had a happy life.
 
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:angel: Glad you found your man Crommie. From that account he was well worth the time spent looking for him.

R.I.P Tom Glad we found you...
 
Thanks for the feedback and for Loisand for adding additional info and Pom, for helping me with dates....
 
Thomas Turrall VC grave

Hi

I have further pictures of Thomas Turrall, his gravestone, in his military uniform, and a painting that was commisioned as rememberance of his heroic act
 
Thanks for putting those on the Forum Brummy 10 nice to see a relative is keeping his memory alive which seems rare these days..their is another couple of pics of Turrall which the War Artist did, If you do not have them I will sort them out for you.........
 
Turrall Pictures

Hi Cromwell
I was arare of one other picture, certainly not two it would be great if you were able to sort these out

Brummy10
 
Another version to be found in the book Deeds That Thrilled An Empire showing Turrall wearing a greatcoat which would have been unlikely
 
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This is my great great Uncle. We lost our nan last year- his niece, who told us lots of stories and was very proud of him. My grandad is 90 and is fit and strong remembers him well. We visit Toms grave sometimes and are sad to hear stories written that he's forgotten because his memory is very much kept alive in our family. I took grandad to Toms exhibition in Worcester last year after Tom sold his VC and medals to manage financially after the war. It was very touching to see how his memory is still commemorated today. Thqnk you
 
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