The relatives of a First World War hero were among the people who gathered in Shepherd’s Bush to remember an astonishing act of gallantry exactly 100 years earlier.

Crowds gathered on Friday (February 17) to remember Lance Sergeant Frederick Palmer , who fought with great distinction in both world wars, and his actions a century earlier (February 17, 1916), which saved the lives of his comrades and earned him a Victoria Cross.

Among those present at the service, which saw a plaque laid in his honour , was L. Sgt. Palmer’s son Brian.

The service marked the gallantry shown by Lance Sergeant Frederick Palmer 100 years earlier during the First World War in the trenches of northern France

The soldier, who was born in Hammersmith in 1891 and went on to fly in the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, had already won the Military Medal (MM) in Gallipoli in 1916.

Aged 25 at the time, he won his VC after taking command of his company during a trench battle in Coucelette, northern France, on February 17, 1916, after all the officers had fallen to enemy machine gun fire.

L. Sgt. Palmer's son Brian, holding his father's war medals, following the service

Gathering six of his comrades, he cut through the barbed wire and rushed to the enemy trench, before bringing together stragglers from other decimated regiments in no man’s land, and holding the captured enemy trench in the face of an incessant barrage of bombs and rifle grenades from front and sides.

The men clung on for three hours weathering a series of counter-attacks, one of which saw L. Sgt. Palmer blown off his feet by a bomb. But he got back to his feet and carried on defending the trench.

After the action in February 1917, all survivors of the attacking party were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal or MM.

The plaque commemorating the actions of L. Sgt. Palmer which earned him a Victoria Cross

The VC was presented to L. Sgt. Palmer by King George V in Hyde Park .

His heroism was recognised at the time by the borough. He attended a special meeting of Hammersmith Council in the town hall in April 1917, signing his name on the borough’s roll of honour immediately below that of Queen Mary.

Everyone stood and cheered when he walked into the council chamber, and L. Sgt. Palmer later quipped he felt more nervous attending the ceremony than he had during the battle.

He had worked for a Hammersmith publishing firm before the outbreak of the Great War, and enlisted as a private in the Kensington-based Fusiliers.

After receiving the Victoria Cross in the First World War, Lance Sergeant Frederick Palmer would join the RAF and fly in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War

The VC was one of nine medals received during a military career spanning both world wars.

Later in the conflict he joined the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, before moving to Malaya in the 1920s, setting up a planting business.

After the outbreak of the Second World War , he returned to England, rejoined the RAF and flew in the Battle of Britain, achieving the rank of Wing-Commander.

The nine medals won by L. Sgt. Palmer during a military career that spanned both World Wars

He retired to Hampshire in 1950, and died in 1955, leaving a widow, three sons and a daughter.

Chelsea Pensioners at the service

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