Tom Dresser VC grave (21st July 1892 to 9th April 1982)

While driving around Middlesborough I looked up which Victoria Cross recipients I could have a coffee with and here I am by the grave of a man who showed great bravery.

Tom was born at a farm a few miles north of York into a farming family. For some reason his parents sold their holding when he was eleven years old and greatly shrunk their life when they bought a newsagents shop in Middlesborough. Leaving school he got a job at a foundry however World War One broke out and aged 22 he joined the army. He was sent to the dreaded Western Front in North West France to fight.

On Saturday 12th May 1917 he was fighting in Roeux, France. He was prevailed upon to carry a vital message from battalion headquarters to the front line trenches - even at the cost of his life. The front line trenches were many miles away. On the way he was shot twice and suffered great pain. He continued forward and managed to reach the front line without behind caught, gassed, mowed down by a machine gun or bayoneted to death. The message regarding tactical strategy about advancing on the enemy proved of the greatest value to his battalion at a critical period and probably saved hundreds of lives. He arrived with the message bleeding heavily and at the point of exhaustion.

He was brought back home to be hospitalised and eventually recovered. He was invested with a Victoria Cross medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace in July 1917. He went back to fight with the 74th Machine Gun Corps and thankfully never took another bullet. He remained in the army until he was demobbed in April 1919. He returned to the foundry until he took over his dad’s newsagent’s shop. Despite being shot twice he died at home aged 89.

Here I am by the grave Tom shares with his wife. They had four children but they're not under this patch of grass. Normally these VC soldiers die quite young but this chap reached a decent age (his wife died eighteen before him.) Tom’s name was not added to the gravestone until July 2015 for security reasons. In the 1980s it was feared the IRA would vandalise the graves of VC recipients.

There was a small parking area in the middle of the cemetery where I'd pulled up in the motorhome. I had some cold chips from the night before and warmed them up in a frying pan and had them in a sandwich with red sauce while looking at Tom's grave. No red wreath on the grave, only a waterproof sign asking the grave owner or next of kin to contact the council. Mmm...surely the family are still alive. After a coffee I did a stiff salute at the grave and left.