A replica of a First World War tank was lifted on to the 55ft-high tower of a Greenford business to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict.
The Mark IV tank was placed on the roof of Vanguard Holdings Ltd in Western Avenue on Friday last week (June 20), along with a banner saying ‘Lest we forget, 1st World War, 4th August 1914 – 11 November 1918 British and Commonwealth Servicemen 956,703 killed’.
Mac and William McCullagh, owners of the Vanguard Group, a removal services company formed in 1964, commissioned the replica, made by SVC Displays Ltd, from Guildford.
They are the son and grandson of William McKim McCullagh, who joined the volunteer reserve (Territorial Army) and when war was declared the following year he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was posted as a medical officer in the Guard’s Division and by the age of 26 was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 4th Field Ambulance regiment.
In 1916, his younger brother Edwin volunteered to join the army, saw action at the Somme with the Cheshire Regiment.
His battalion was posted to Belgium where he died in the Battle of Messines Ridge on June 7, 1917.
The replica tank was named after Edwin.
