William Gregg VC DCM MM

b. 27/01/1890 Heanor, Derbyshire. d. 09/08/1969 Heanor, Derbyshire.

William Gregg (1890-1969) was born on 27th January 1890 at Mount Street, Heanor, Derbyshire. His father, also William, was a framework knitter by trade. He married Harriet Henshaw on Christmas Day 1883 at St John’s Church, Aldercar, Derbyshire. They had a large family of 13 children including William junior, but sadly only ten survived infancy. One of his brothers, Thomas, was killed in action in 1917.

William was educated at Mundy Street Boys’ School in Heanor and then worked as a coal miner loader at Shipley Colliery. On 25th June 1910 he married Sarah Hardy at the Parish Church in Ilkeston. They spent their married life living in Park Street and then at 6 Midland Road in Heanor. They had two children – Nellie and Kenneth.

William Gregg
VC DCM MM

William, known as Bill, soon enlisted in the 13th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade on 24th November 1914, and by May 1915, he was serving with the Battalion in France on the Western Front. In 1916 Gregg was wounded on The Somme. After two years of suffering in the trenches, the last two years of the war would see Bill become the first British soldier to receive three gallantry awards.

He received the Military Medal on 26th March 1917 in the Hulloch Sector for crawling between the opposing lines under the eyes of the enemy to establish the identity of a dead German soldier. He was under the watchful eyes of a German sentry throughout. On 30th November 1917, just south of the Menin Road, for carrying messages between different sections of his battalion while under heavy machine gun fire, he received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was then promoted to sergeant on 12th December 1917.

Finally on 8th May 1918 at Bucquoy, France, when all the officers of Sergeant Gregg’s company had been hit during an attack on an enemy outpost, he took command, rushing two enemy posts, killing some of the gun teams, taking prisoners and capturing a machine-gun. He then started to consolidate his position until driven back by a counter-attack, but as reinforcements had by now come up, he led a charge, personally bombed a hostile machine-gun, killed the crew and captured the gun. When driven back again, he led another successful attack and held on to his position until ordered to withdraw. He became the first of only eight men in the Great War to be awarded the VC, DCM and MM.

Within the 13th Bn, Sergeant Gregg established a great reputation as a fighting soldier. One of his platoon Corporals said of him: “He was completely fearless. He came through action after action unscathed. In fact, he went looking for trouble, particularly at night in No-Mans-Land, observing and searching for information of value. Indeed, a fine fighting man and one we would follow anywhere.”

He was gazetted for the VC on 28th June 1918, and later received his VC at the British Third Army HQ at Frohen-le-Grand in France from King George V on 9th August 1918. He was later appointed company sergeant major and was discharged in March 1919.

After returning to England, he went back to work as a miner, until retiring in 1949 due to osteoarthritis in the left knee and hip. He also played fullback for Heanor Athletic FC and helped train the youth team.

When war was declared in 1939, he joined the National Defence Company of the Sherwood Foresters, saying “That if the country was worth living in, it was worth defending” but left in 1941 when he reached the upper age limit. He later served on one of the ferries evacuating survivors of the Dieppe raid in August 1942. William attended the VC Garden Party on 26th June 1920, the VC Dinner at the House of Lords on 9th November 1929, the Victory Day Celebrations at the Dorchester, London on 8th June 1946, and the VC Centenary Celebrations in Hyde Park on 26th June 1956. He also attended the 1st VC Association Reunion at the Cafe Royal on 24th July 1958.

Gregg died on 9th August 1969 at Heanor Memorial Hospital, and received full military honours at his funeral at the Heanor Free Church on Midland Road, prior to cremation at Markeaton. His ashes were scattered in the Garden of Remembrance where there is a memorial. The Times newspaper ran an obituary for Mr Gregg, which perhaps goes some way to show how significant an achievement his was. He is remembered not only by a street name (Gregg Avenue), but in the name of the town’s Leisure Centre, opened in 1970. He is also named on the Rifle Brigade Memorial in Winchester Cathedral, and with a VC commemorative stone placed at Heanor Memorial Park on 13th May 2018. His wife lived past 100 and in 1992, was visited by members of the Royal Green Jackets with her husband’s medals.

In addition to his VC, DCM and MM he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, 1939-45 Star, War Medal 1939-45, George VI Coronation Medal 1937 and Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953. He kept his medals in a tin in the sideboard and questioned visitors wishing to see them, asking why they wanted to see “those things”. The medals were bequeathed to the Royal Green Jackets Museum in Winchester.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: ROYAL GREEN JACKETS MUSEUM, WINCHESTER.

BURIAL PLACE: HEANOR CREMATORIUM, HEANOR, DERBYSHIRE. ASHES SCATTERED.