After six men were gunned down before him near Boisieux St. Marc in France, Dorset’s Jack Counter dragged himself face down along the ground, through barbed wire with a vital message for HQ.

His action in April 1918 won him the VC for an act of bravery remembered both in Blandford and his later home Jersey.

Private Counter, who died in 1970, was serving in the King's Liverpool Regiment when he volunteered to carry a vital message from the front line “under terrific fire”.

The London Gazette reported: “It was necessary for information to be obtained from the front line. The only way was from the support line along a sunken road, and thence down a forward slope for about 250 yards with no cover, in full view of the enemy, and swept by their machine-gun and rifle fire.

After a small party had tried unsuccessfully, the leader having been killed and another wounded before leaving the sunken road, it was thought that a single man had more chance of getting through. This was attempted five times, but on each occasion the runner was killed in full view of the position from which he had started.

Private Counter, who was near his officer at the time, and had seen the five runners killed one after the other, then volunteered to carry the message. He went out under terrific fire and succeeded in getting through. He then returned, carrying with him the vital information regarding the estimated number of enemy in our line, the exact position of our flank, and the remaining strength of our troops.

“This information enabled his commanding officer to organise and launch the final counter-attack, which succeeded in regaining the whole of our position. Subsequently this man carried back five messages across the open under a heavy artillery barrage to company headquarters.

“Private Counter's extraordinary courage in facing almost certain death, because he knew that it was vital that the message should be carried, produced a most excellent impression on his young and untried companions.”

He became the first Freeman of Blandford Forum on June 19, 1918 and was awarded the Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace later that month.

After the war, Private Counter settled in Jersey, working as a postman, and was an active member of the Royal British Legion. While visiting his brother's widow in Dorset Street, Blandford, in 1970, he sadly collapsed and died.

A commemorative Victoria Cross paving stone in the Market Place, next to the Town Pump, was unveiled at the Town’s Remembrance Sunday service in 2014 by his nephew, Herbert Counter, and great-niece, Jackie Counter.